A Master's Weakness
by WrittenInTheStars14
Summary: When Anakin and Obiwan crash land on an unknown planet and are captured by the natives, a political mission becomes a survival mission. NOW COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

**The prologue! So… this is my new story! I hope y'all enjoy it! I'm hoping to finish it by Christmas (you really never know when I'm going to be a lazy butt and be silent for weeks at a time…) BUT I promise I WILL finish this story! Don't you just hate it when there's some sort of evil cliffhanger and then you see that the person updated last in like 2009? Yeah…**

**I DON'T OWN STAR WARS: GEORGE LUCAS DOES…sadly. *sniffle***

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><p>Obiwan was slumped over in the co-pilot's chair next to his former Padawan.<p>

He and Anakin had been sent to Naboo to help and settle a political argument. Anakin was not as eager as he usually was to go on a mission...nor was Obiwan for that fact.

After a long week of mental exhaustion from constant political debates, they were finally on our way back to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple.

"Tired, Master?" Anakin asked, grinning impishly at him.

"Mmm," was all Obiwan could muster to say at the moment. "I'm getting thoroughly exhausted of arguing with stubborn politicians."

"_Getting_ thoroughly exhausted? I'm definitely already there. We've been sent on _five_ missions like this past one in the last six months. If I never had to argue with another politician in my life, I would be beyond happy."

"Well, I don't blame you, Anakin." Obiwan grinned.

"We'll reach Coruscant in eight hours." Anakin informed his tired Master. "You can go rest, Master. I'll be fine here."

Obiwan sighed deeply through his nose. "Thank you, but this chair is actually _quite_ comfortable-"

"And the walk to the bunks is too far for an old man?" Anakin cut in.

Obiwan glared at the man, before a smile slowly grew on his face. "It is a long way off."

He settled even further into the plush co-pilot's chair. It really wasn't that comfortable, but the walk to the bunks in the back of the ship seemed like an extremely long walk to him at the moment, and he was about to fall asleep anyway.

Obiwan finally closed my eyes and drifted off into sweet, dreamless slumber.

...

He was sadly awoken all too soon by Anakin urgently shaking him awake.

"Obiwan! The main booster shut off and none of the controls are working! I can't control the ship at all!" He cried frantically.

"Where's the nearest planet we can land on?" Obiwan asked, his brain waking up immediately.

"There's one coming up but I've never heard of it. K...Kai...I'm not trying to pronounce _**that**_." Anakin stated.

"We're running low on fuel, too." Obiwan commented while checking all of the monitors. "We'll just have to land there and hope for the best."

Anakin grabbed the wheel and tried to get some sort of control while Obiwan was still looked at the maps.

"Master...you might want to strap in." Anakin warned him.

Obiwan looked up and saw that he was right. The planet surface was getting close...too close. Auburn flames were starting to catch on the edge of the ship as they became a comet in the atmosphere.

They strapped in and braced themselves for the worst. The last thing Obiwan remember before his sight went black was the rock-filled landscape hurtling towards them.

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><p><strong>So, very short, but it's only the prologue sooooooooo… it'll get better soon! I promise :)<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**So today I have had absolutely NO motivation to do anything half-way productive…except write Star Wars fanficiton! XD Makes total sense, right? **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed!**

**I DON'T OWN STAR WARS. …but Christmas **_**is**_** coming up in a couple months *wink wink***

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

My head was resting face-down on the dashboard when I woke up from the crash. My chair was completely detached from the floor of our now wrecked ship and was now crushing me against the panels in front of me. My right leg stung intensely as I felt warm blood trickle slowly down my shin. The only other injury I could_ feel_ was my pounding head.

"Anakin...?" I called groggily. There was no response. My gut immediately knotted up in worry. I unstrapped myself from the chair and stood up, looking for my missing Padawan. His chair was still in its spot, but the man who was supposed to be sitting in it was not. "Anakin? Anakin!" My heart was quickly plummeting in my chest until I heard a low moan from the floor on the opposite side of the ship.

I crawled over chunks of sparking metal to get to the source of the moan. My right knee was screaming it's defiance to any sort of movement, but I hardly noticed it when I saw what I needed to see. There... Anakin was in a heap on the ground. He was covered in shrapnel; his side of the ship had taken the brunt of the crash. His seatbelt had been ripped off his chair by the impact; that caused him to be flung into the side of the ship. The only visible injury I could see underneath everything covering him was a wound on his forehead which knocked him unconscious. He stirred slightly and moaned in pain again.

"Anakin..." I limped as quickly as I could over to him. A huge chunk of the ceiling had fallen on his chest and pinned him to the ground. He wasn't able to move, and I was scared that the ship would explode at any second; I could smell gas. "Relax, this might hurt." I whispered to Anakin. I pulled the large piece of the ship roof off of his chest using the Force and he cried out as the pressure was relieved from his - most likely cracked - ribs. I started to clear off the rest of the small pieces of glass and metal off Anakin when he opened his eyes.

"Thanks for the warning." He smiled weakly at me.

"You're welcome." I replied sarcastically. "How hurt are you?"

"I'm fine." Anakin lied swiftly. He cried out suddenly when my hand lightly brushed against one shard of metal. I looked closer and found that the blood was dripping off the scrap that had imbedded itself deeply into Anakin's side.

"I have to pull this out." I explained.

Anakin nodded grimly and closed his eyes shut. He grimaced as my hand brushed across the metal again.

I gently grasped the edge and yanked as if pulling a bandage off a child's skin.

Anakin tried to suppress his cry through clenched teeth. Sadly, his efforts weren't very successful. My efforts also weren't very successful. The metal shard hadn't come completely out. It was slowly sliding out of his skin and muscle.

"It's not coming out very easily. This is going to hurt…" I told Anakin. Again he nodded, clenched his teeth together and balled his fists.

Again, I pulled on the sharp scrap of metal and it slowly came out. The last couple of millimeters I jerked it out and Anakin screamed.

I tossed the bloody shard away and pressed my hand to Anakin's side to stem blood flow. I tore a long strip off my ripped and charred cloak and wrapped it around the deep gash.

"Can you walk?" I asked, holding out a hand to him. Anakin didn't refuse my help like he normally would under any other circumstances. I slung his arm around my shoulders and helped lead him out of the smoking ship.

After I dragged him out of the ship and stumbled over to a large boulder, I let Anakin rest against it. The second I looked over to where the ship was, it exploded. The shock wave made me stumble against the boulder Anakin was resting on. The place where the ship _had_ been was now covered in flames and melted bits of steel.

"Well, everyone that lives here knows that we're here now." Anakin stated.

"_If_ anyone lives here." I muttered.

"If they do, they certainly don't use the Force…"

Only then did I noticed something really odd about the planet, the Force _was_ very weak. It took a lot of energy to be able to use it for simple things such as meditating. Anakin was right; anyone who lived here couldn't have used the Force.

When I looked back to Anakin, I really realized the full extent of his injuries. He was breathing more heavily than I would have preferred; some of his ribs were most likely bruised or cracked. He bled from a few small, unimportant cuts on his upper body. There was a particularly deep cut above his eyebrow; his crimson blood was trickling freely down his face because of it. But the worst gash was the one on his right side from the shard of metal off of the ship. Part of his tunic was stained red from blood over the wound.

"Oh, Anakin." I whispered. He parted his lips to breathe my name. "I'm right here, Anakin." I assured him.

He cracked his blue eyes to look at him. His eyes were swirling with pain, but his face wasn't showing a single sign of it. "Are you alright?" he asked me quietly.

"I'm much better off than you." I answered truthfully.

He didn't buy my excuse. His eyes drifted down to my bloody leg. "You're bleeding, Master!" He tried to push himself up but his arms collapsed under his own weight.

"I'm fine." I told him.

He somehow managed to get himself into a sitting position and lean against the boulder behind him. "Roll up your pant leg." He ordered me.

"Anakin I-" I started to protest but gave up when I saw the look - well, more like glare - Anakin was giving me.

"Master, you're the one telling me to always take care of myself and to listen to you. Roll your pant leg up or so help me, I _will _get up and roll it up myself. Your decision."

"You will _not_ be getting up." I told him. "You're in no shape to! Anakin, this is your health we're talking about-"

"And we're not talking about yours?" Anakin interrupted. "You know you're like a father to me, Obiwan, you know that. If anything happened to you…I don't know what I would do. Please…just roll up your pant leg."

I sighed deeply and slowly rolled up my pant leg to reveal my torn up knee. It was black and blue from a large bruise, but the worst part was a gash at the very base of my knee cap where blood oozed out. If you moved it just right, you could see the white of the bones beneath the skin.

"_That_ is not 'nothing,' Master." Anakin pointed out my obvious lie.

"Anakin," I sighed. "Get some sleep...I'll take care of it."

Though Anakin argued for a while longer, his eyelids were drooping from exhaustion. Soon, he was asleep.

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><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

Being completely honest, in the morning I felt like crap. My side ached and it felt like a knife was being stabbed in and out of my side with every breath. My forehead was still slick with blood as well as my side.

"So what do we do now?" I asked Obiwan as we still sat by the boulder.

He sighed. "I think trying to find the natives of this planet would be a primary way to go. Then find a way out of here and a way to get back to Coruscant."

"I think any possible natives already know that we're here. That explosion yesterday was certainly big enough to alert practically everything here. I'm sure there's a group of natives somewhere looking for us." I pointed out.

"Well, then I suppose we should go meet them!" Obiwan said cheerily.

"Why is it that you are always so-" I started smugly.

"Don't even finish that sentence." Obiwan grinned as he came over and helped me up.

...

We wandered around the planet for quite a long time. The planet was without a doubt the most boring place I've ever been to. Geonosis didn't even hold a match to this planet; even Tatooine was more exciting than here. It was nothing but rocks and a few bushes. There were no hills, creeks, trees, nothing.

"Can anything really live on this Force-forsaken planet?" I wondered aloud.

Obiwan chuckled as he shifted his grip on my arm that was slung over his shoulders. "I'm not sure, Anakin. Many would ask how you were able to live on Tatooine for nine years."

"Hey, I wonder the same thing, too. So that doesn't count. Besides, at least we _know_ that people – however strange they might be – live there. This hellhole however could be completely uninhabited and we're just wondering to find nothi-" I was cut off by a cry of surprise as we both fell into a large pit. I hit the bottom with my arm under my aching ribs, knocking all breath out of my lungs. As I gasped to regain my breath, Obiwan was busy feeling his ankle to see if it was broken or not. I had heard a sickening crunch as we landed ungracefully on the bottom of the hole.

Once I got my breath back, I looked around the hole. It was deeper than we were tall, it was a square hole, too...it was obviously dug out by someone.

We soon found out who that someone was when multiple dark skinned men surrounded the edges of the pit above us. They were aiming arrows from drawn bows at us. They had feathers behind their ears with cropped black hair. Red designs were painted onto the skin on their arms and bare chests. They wore dark black leather pants and no shoes.

"Drop your weapon, Anakin." Obiwan whispered to me.

I didn't argue. I dropped my lightsaber and took a small step back from it.

The men around the rim put their bows down, but still kept the arrows loosely on the string.

Two of the warriors moved to show a tall man with a long black and white feather sticking out from behind his left ear. He had a long, ugly scar that ran down across his right shoulder like something had tried to rip his shoulder clean off his body.

"Who are you...?" Obiwan whispered; half to himself and half to the man above us.

"I am Rayoshi, the keeper of the Mahoozi realm." The man said in a deep voice. "And you are trespassing on sacred ground."

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><p><em><strong>BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! <strong>_**Sorry. It's been a long day :D**

**So that's the end of chapter one! Well…technically chapter two but chapter one was a prologue sorta thing and so really this would be chapter one and no two but I'm thinking about changing that because that's just too complicated for my tired brain.**

…**Like I said, long day! I'm really surprised I got this written up. I, sadly, promise that the next update will not be tomorrow. I just had some free-time and motivation to do this today :]**

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I actually got this updated quicker than I thought I would! :D**

**I DON'T OWN STAR WARS. George Lucas does, I just play on his playground :]**

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

Two of the warriors tossed the end of a rope down the hole and we grabbed on to it. After we were painfully and ungracefully dragged out of the hole, our arms were tied tightly behind our backs. Anakin looked pained as his ribs were stretched out when his hands were yanked behind his back. I saw him grit his teeth and clench his fists as we were marched forward.

...

We finally reached a village after walking across the extremely _boring_ terrain of this planet. I was surprised by the sight of the place. It was really an odd little village… Tents were all over the small dirt area. The weird thing wasn't the tents, it was the fact that all the tents and an area around the tents was in a forest. Trees and shrubs were scattered all over the ground. It seemed like a miracle considering the rest of the planet – or at least what Anakin and I had seen – was flat, and had nothing on the ground. Rayoshi walked in front of us and as we stopped in the middle of the village and all sorts of other men gathered to see us. I caught glances of women and children's faces peeking out at us from behind tent flaps.

One tall man stood slightly apart from the rest of the men and in the center of the bundle of people. He had a long, bright blue feather sticking out from behind his ear and resting against his spiky black hair. His chest had a large, red bear-like paw print painted on. Two red lines also ran diagonally across his cheeks along with four black and red lines running across his left arm.

"What's this, Rayoshi?" The larger man asked Rayoshi.

"Jedi." Rayoshi replied simply.

The man before us raised an eyebrow. "Jedi?" A small, welcoming grin grew on his face. "Well, Master Jedi, I've been expecting you. I always knew someone like you two would come here."

He had been expecting us? I instantly became suspicious of him. "Where exactly _is_ here?"

"You are on Mahoozi ground. I am Kiojah, chief of the Mahoozi. This is the Mahoozi." He gestured around himself to all the men and to women and children behind the tents. "Now, what are your names?" He asked us.

Anakin glanced at me from the corner of his eye. "Release us and we'll tell you." I answered. This man was strange, I knew that much from all that had happened already. Even though the Force was extremely weak here, he still had a slight aura about him. Even the faintest bit of his aura was full of darkness.

Kiojah's eyes got a strange glint to them as he spoke again, "Come now, young Jedi, surely you can at least tell me your names."

I stayed silent, as did Anakin. He must have sensed the odd senses around the chief as well.

"You two look terrible." Kiojah sighed, changing the subject and forcing a worried smile to cover his features. "Take them to Jekaisa." He spoke to Rayoshi.

The guards on our side and Rayoshi turned us around and led us to one of the tents. An old woman hobbled out of the tent as we approached.

"Jekaisa, yuoria keshiz eril Kiojah xerak kassoliah geno Jedi." Rayoshi spoke to the elderly woman in the Mahoozi's own language. I assumed that the woman was Jekaisa.

She nodded and beckoned me and Anakin inside her small tent. The strong scent of herbs and spices met us as soon as we walked inside.

"Sit." She told me as she took Anakin into the back part of the tent, behind a large blanket which acted as a wall. He glanced back nervously at me before he followed the woman. There were no sounds in the tent except for the rustling of fabric, and Anakin's occasional gasps of pain.

I sat in the same spot for quite some time before the blanket was pulled back and Anakin came to sit down next to me. The woman had cleaned all of the blood off his face and it looked like the gash on his forehead was a mere scratch now; before it had still been a large gash… His tunic was also clean of any rips and the large amount of blood that had practically been dripping off the right side.

I raised both my eyebrows and Anakin shrugged. "She wants to see you now." He told me.

I hesitantly stood up and walked to the back of the tent to Jekaisa. She smiled softly at me before she pulled the blanket-barrier shut behind me.

"You have nothing to worry about, Master Jedi." She told me. "Sit, please." She pointed to a small stool in the corner. I sat down and she gently grasped my injured leg in her bony hands.

When she rolled up the leg to see my torn up knee, she tsk'd at me slightly. She grabbed a small pitcher carved out of a large fruit shell. There was a green glow coming from the opening at the top and when I looked inside, the liquid was glowing green! She poured some of the glowing liquid out of the pitcher and onto her hands. She placed her hands onto my knee and I pulled away slightly.

"It will make your knee better, Master Jedi." She whispered to me. I nodded and she completely enveloped my battered knee in her hands.

My knee tingled for a couple seconds before it started to feel like it was slowly mending my skin back to itself. After ten minutes, Jekaisa took her hands off my knee and I saw why it felt like it had during the time when her hands were on it. The large gash on my knee was now a small, scabby scratch. All the dried blood on my knee and leg was completely washed off my skin, and the bruises were now a healing, greenish-yellow hue.

"There," she stated. "You may leave now, Master Jedi."

"Uh…thank you." I told her, still in slight shock over my knee.

As I left to go outside the cut-off part of the tent with Anakin he whispered curiously to me, "Did she ever ask you what was injured?"

Then it dawned on me; the witch doctor – or whatever she was – never did ask what was hurt…she just healed it! Maybe there was more to the Mahoozi than meets the eye.

Before we could say anything more, the guards came back and took us outside to the same spot we were at before.

Kiojah looked pleased as we came out of the strange woman's tent. "Are you feeling better, Master Jedi?"

"Yes." I said as Anakin nodded.

"See?" Kiojah began to explain. "We are on friendly terms! There is no reason to keep your names a secret from us."

"If you're on friendly terms, then you'll have no problem with untying us." Anakin swiftly pointed out an important flaw to Kiojah's 'reasonable' request.

Kiojah's smile faltered as he spoke, "I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Why not? We're on friendly terms, are we not?" Anakin narrowed his eyes.

Kiojah walked until his face was inches away from Anakin's. "What are your names?" He ground out through his smile.

"Release us." Anakin replied smoothly.

The guard next to him slammed the end of his spear into Anakin's cheek. I could see his skin becoming red and bruised as a very small rivulet of blood trickled down from his cheekbone.

"Take them to the tents." Kiojah told the guards as he looked down at Anakin's glaring face.

The guards on our sides shoved us to our side and took us to a tent. Anakin was taken over to a pole on one side of the tent while I was taken to another pole on the opposite side. The guards attached a short length of rope to our bound hands and tied that to the poles. It allowed us move around a little bit, but not much. We were then gagged with cloth rags.

"If you're good, you might get to be on Kiojah's nice side." The last man to leave told us with a smug smile.

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><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

What seemed like hours later, Jekaisa came into the tent. She held a small pitcher of water, very much like the one she had had earlier. Hopefully there wasn't any more glowing liquid in it this time. She took off my gag and let me drink some of the liquid inside; luckily it was water. Before she slipped the piece of cloth back inside my mouth I spoke. "Wait! Please." I hissed to her desperately.

The woman stopped and looked at me questioningly.

"Why is your chief keeping us like this?" I asked. "Why is he doing this?"

Jekaisa looked from me to Obiwan and back. "Well, Master Jedi, that is a difficult thing to say. I am not allowed to speak to any prisoners. Especially ones like yourselves."

"Ones like us?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Yes, ones like you. You see, there is another tribe that lives on this planet; the Anarani. They have been in a war with us for the past fifteen years. As the karija of the Mahoozi, I am in charge of healing, and communication with the spirits. The spirits remember the day as well as I do…"

"What day?" I prodded her on.

"One day, thirteen years ago, Kiojah managed to capture the old chief of the Anarani. The spirits were not happy with Kiojah, because he had the chief tortured and starved for 10 days. The spirits gave the karija of the Anarani a sign that they should come to save their chief and they immediately obeyed. But, sadly, when the Anarani came, they found their chief lying dead in this very tent. Then, out of pure hatred for us and Kiojah, the Anarani killed our children, stole many of our possessions, and put a curse on us. They swore to kill Kiojah one day, and the curse has not been easy on us."

"What's the curse?"

"No one shall prosper on Mahoozi land. For years, we have tried to grow grain, but all of it has been cursed to died. The youngest child in the tribe is nine years old, no more children have come to being. Hunting is very hard, our swift men now are cursed with footsteps like a fat man. Winning a fight has been cursed as well. We have lost every fight in this war… The war has seemed nearly impossible with all of our disabilities."

"So why haven't the Anarani just come and taken over?"

"We have been able to hold them off with the spirits' help, but that is all we can really do. On the same day of the curse, I tried a new spell. It will – with the spirits' help – create a shield around our village that will protect our grounds from anything that wants to enter our realm; unless, of course, the spirits wish them to intrude. Sadly, despite the great deal of aid from the spirits, that wall will only protect us for so long against the Anarani's attempts to break it. It has become worn down; every day it fades away a little more, and every day the Anarani come closer to defeating us."

"So how do _we_ help Kiojah in this?"

"You two made it past the spirits' barrier, didn't you? So they must have wished you to come here. Kiojah believes that the Anarani are allies with the Jedi, for the Anarani are peacekeepers such as you Jedi. Excpet with them, anyone who upsets the peace is killed. They are violent, but with good intentions. Kiojah is simply violent, the only intentions he has is to gain as much leverage as he possibly can - and at any cost - to win this war. Now that you two are here, and made it past the barrier, he believes strongly that we can beat the Anarani. He also says that you hold valuable information from the spirits."

"What kind of information?"

"That, I do not know. Though I think you will find out soon." She finished. She slipped the gag back into my mouth and let Obiwan drink some water before speaking again. "I'm sorry, Master Jedi." She put the gag back into Obiwan's mouth. "May the spirits guide your path." With that, she left.

What kind of information could we have…?

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><p><strong>That's the end of chapter 3! Ok, so just to let y'all know: I type up pretty much the whole story on my ipod while I'm lying in bed at 10:00 at night and then transfer it onto my laptop where I then add, take out, and spell check. Usually, that works just fine…but spell check on Word has been uber annoying and glitchy and will tell me that correctly spelled words are wrong so I have to manually go through and check everything. I'm able to catch the glaring spelling errors and most of the grammar problems but I'm human and I make mistakes and I won't always catch those mistakes! Sorry! I'm trying to fix it, but so far nothing's happened so I'm sorry!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it's been a while since I've updated! My grandma's been in the hospital and my cousin was visiting us here and so all weekend we've been going from the hospital to seeing my cousin to baseball games, and now we're having Thanksgiving at our house so my mom has gone into COMPLETECLEANINGMODE. Uber busy. ANYWAYS: I hope y'all enjoy chapter 4! **

**I DON'T OWN STAR WARS.**

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

The next morning, three burly men came and untied the short leash from the pole behind me. I looked across the tent to see Anakin being untied as well. After they took the gags out of our mouths, they ordered us to walk forward and out of the tent.

The sunrise was almost blinding after being stuck in the dark tent all night and most of yesterday afternoon. I kept blinking to adjust my eyes to the light of the sunrise.

We kept walking until we reached the chief's tent.

"Take off your boots." One man ordered.

I raised a quizzical eyebrow at the Mahoozi man. "Excuse me?"

"No one can step onto the sacred presence of the chief's quarters with shoes." The second man told us.

I sighed and planted the toes of my right foot on the heel of my left boot and slid my left foot out. I then did the same thing with the right boot. Anakin had kicked his own boots off along with me. Once we had them off, we were shoved inside Kiojah's tent in front of the three guards.

My eyes – once again – had to adjust to the dim light of Kiojah's tent. There were fuzzy spots dancing in front of my vision as I stumbled into the tent. A fuzzy version of Kiojah was sitting cross-legged on an animal skin while smoking a long pipe.

"Ah, I've been wanting to speak with you." He told us. He motioned for us to sit on the ground in front of him which was difficult considering our hands were still tied. "Now, Master Jedi, it has come to my attention that you are in possession of some information that I greatly need."

I raised my eyebrows. "What kind of information?"

"Nothing much, really," Kiojah explained. "All I need to know is where the Anarani's weak spot is."

"I don't know of their weakness." I told the man.

"Really? I think you do. Surely Jekaisa has told you about our curse by now, hasn't she?" Kiojah continued. "No harvest; no amount of food can satisfy our hunger; no good hunting; no luck in this war. Really, you two are the only good things we've had here in a very long time. We're quite lucky to have you here."

"I wouldn't consider yourself lucky if we can't tell you the information you want." Anakin said.

"You can't, or you won't?" Kiojah asked.

Anakin clenched his teeth as we both remained silent.

Kiojah raised his eyebrow and the guard behind us hit Anakin in the back with the end of his spear. His spine cracked like he was cracking his knuckles as he fell forward and gasped to regain air in his lungs.

"Leave him alone!" I didn't realize that I had said those words until they had slipped out of my mouth and Kiojah smiled sadistically.

"So you don't know the Anarani's weak spot..." he began. "But I know yours."

The guards hauled Anakin up to his feet and then did the same to me.

"Take that one-" Kiojah pointed at me. "-back to the tent. Take the other one to the racks."

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><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

The racks, as I soon found out, were large wooden frames that were large enough and strong enough to hold a grown man lying on his back. They were outside of the small, wooded village, and out in the open without any sort of cover.

When the two guards had led me to them, they threw me onto them and grabbed my wrists and ankles. My wrists were tied far above my head and my feet were tied to the wooden beam at the bottom. My limbs were stretched almost as far as they could go without breaking. The native men then made a few jeers in their language and walked off with more taunts.

...

Night was falling, and still I was alone on the racks. My shoulders had gone numb from the pain hours ago and my stretched chest hurt with every breath. All of my muscles were cramped and I couldn't move at all to help ease their strain.

I lay there – well, more like hung – wondering what Kiojah was planning. I knew that he was planning _something_ that had to do with him, me, Obiwan, and the Anarani. He would think of some way to either get us to tell him the Anarani's weakness, or get the Anarani to surrender in a trade for me and Obiwan. The curse that the Mahoozi endured every day didn't sound good, I'll admit that, but I didn't like the prospect that Obiwan and I were like bargaining chips to Kiojah.

The other problem - besides being held hostage by a psychopath chief with a curse wavering over his head – was that we had no way of telling_ anyone_ where we are. Even if we could tell them, we'd never be able to correctly pronounce the planet we were on. It had the longest and weirdest name... I had never heard of it, either; which was weird considering - as far as I knew - we were still in familiar space.

It seemed like I had been in the same position on the racks for a lifetime when finally, a fitful sleep took over.

...

When I woke up, I was roasting in the sun.

My shoulders and legs were throbbing. My lungs were now wheezing every time I took a breath and sharp pain went around my aching ribs.

A little while after I woke up, three Mahoozi men came and cut the ropes holding my feet and hands. I felt like my limbs had turned to complete mush when they were released; though, sadly, the three men didn't care. They hauled me up and made me march forward towards the village again.

When we reached the middle of the village, I noticed that Obiwan and Kiojah were standing there along with all the rest of the village.

Two of the men that had led me back pushed me forward and my sore knees buckled as I collapsed on the dirt ground. I achingly pushed myself up to my knees and then stood up to face Kiojah.

Kiojah was smiling while Obiwan looked...well like the normal, calm Obiwan, but his eyes were fearful.

"Any sudden remembrances of what the Anarani's weak point is?" Kiojah asked us.

I glared at Kiojah as Obiwan shook his head. "No, sorry." Obiwan said with a hint of sarcasm behind his voice.

"You soon will be." Kiojah murmured quietly. He turned and nodded to the men behind me.

They grabbed my arms and pushed me towards a solitary wooden pole nearby. They shoved me onto the pole, slamming my back onto the large stake. They took off my leather jerkin and shirt underneath, exposing my chest and giving me a sickening feeling of vulnerability. They tied my hands behind my back and around the pole.

One of them then grabbed a long, thick stick. It was carved out – it was like it was ready to beat anyone its master chose. I swallowed as I looked over to see the whole village sitting on the ground; Obiwan was among them. Kiojah was sitting in a chair with a spotted skin thrown across it. Well, it was a slab of wood carved into something resembling a chair. Obiwan was kneeled next to his chair.

Kiojah stood up and began to speak to the Mahoozi tribe. "For years, we have endured the cruse that the Anarani put upon us. For years, we have searched for a solution to break the curse. I give you, the solution!"

The tribe cheered and my blood began to run cold. The man who held the stick smiled and began to slowly tap his hand with the stick.

"You can make this easy," Kiojah spoke solely to Obiwan in a quieter voice. "Simply tell me what we can do to completely crush the Anarani, and nothing bad will happen. If you don't tell me, I can't make any promises."

"I told you, I don't know." Obiwan replied.

"Very well." Kiojah then continued his speech to the Mahoozi. "The spirits have come to our aid in giving us these two Jedi. They _will_ help us break our curse!"

The crowd cheered again, and Kiojah looked over to the man holding the club. The man then swung the stick and it hit me crushingly on the ribs. I cried out as my aching ribs were struck with the bulky club.

"This is what happens to those who defy the spirits! This is what happens to those who defy me, Chief Kiojah!"

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><p><strong>Sorry it's pretty short, I just wanted to get something up before Monday comes XP I don't like Mondays. Oh well!<strong>

**Hopefully during Thanksgiving break I'll get a lot more done :)**

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm REALLY sorry I haven't updated lately, I've been beyond busy. I wasn't home like at all on Monday and Tuesday and of course there was Thanksgiving where I had family over all day this week AND I've had MAJOR writer's block with this chapter :P So: Happy late Thanksgiving and I hope y'all enjoy!**

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

Watching your son being beaten is one of the most painful experiences a father can ever go through. Granted, I'm not Anakin's father; but he's like a son to me, maybe even a brother.

Kiojah was still rambling on in his speech, but I didn't hear a single word of it. The only things I heard were the sound of the beating stick striking Anakin's body again and again, and his groans and gasps of stifled pain.

"We will have no curse, one way or another." I heard Kiojah say that, and my attention finally snapped back to all of my surroundings as well as Anakin. Kiojah spoke in his language to the man beating Anakin and he stopped mid-swing. I sighed an internal sigh of relief that Anakin's torment ended…at least for now.

I looked up at Kiojah as he addressed me. "Are you sure that you don't remember _anything_, Master Jedi?"

I turned my gaze toward Anakin. He was looking at me. Sunlight glistened off his sweat-covered body. His chest was covered in bruises and a few cuts from the force of the beating stick. His blue eyes were locked with mine, and even though they were pain-filled, he gave me a vague "I'm ok," smile.

Any though of Anakin being a son to me disappeared. He _was_ my little brother. I never thought this would happen; especially when Qui-Gon had first introduced me to the boy. Everything we had ever gone through had made us that way, though. Countless missions, multiple med-center visits (most of which weren't because of me), thousands of hours of training, and so much more. Being honest, we had formed an attachment, even though it was against the Jedi Code. I would do anything to keep Anakin alive; even if it meant that_ I_ didn't remain that way.

My attention was drawn back to Kiojah's form before I spoke, "No, I don't."

Kiojah's eyes gleamed as he turned back to the man standing in front of Anakin. Another Mahoozi joined the man and they untied him. The second the ropes left his wrists, he almost collapsed onto the first man. Sadly, they grabbed his shoulders and turned him around. They shoved him onto the pole and he grunted as his chest was – once again – hit against wood. The rope was then tied around his wrists in front of him.

That was when I heard the unmistakable crack of a whip striking the ground. I saw Anakin cringe slightly and brace his back for the pain that was about to come.

Then it came. The whip ends went flying and sliced through the skin and muscle of Anakin's bare back. He grunted as Kiojah came to sit next to me. After he sat, the next whip-strike came, then the next, and the next, and the next.

Each time the barbed whip ends ripped through Anakin's back, more gashes were dug into his skin and muscle. Each lash made Anakin weaker and more broken. Each time the whip was cracked across his body, any sound that gave away Anakin's pain would escape his lips, and that's what made me feel nauseous. Anakin never let anyone know of his pain; it was just another piece of his character. After being a slave, he never liked to show weakness. Weakness...weakness is what I showed when the man first hit him in Kiojah's tent. _My_ weakness is what got Anakin in this situation in the first place. My weakness – of course – was Anakin. His safety and life was among my priorities, and now it was all in danger because of me.

I looked down at the dirt ground as emotions swirled inside of me. Guilt, anger, heartache, and brotherly love.

Kiojah noticed my aversion of attention. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head upwards so that I could watch Anakin's whipping. "You will watch." Kiojah growled down to me.

I glared at Kiojah as the first scream was ripped out of Anakin's throat.

I turned back to Anakin and wished that I were deaf. Now, the whip's crack was proceeded with a scream with every swing. The thing that sadly amazed me was that the Mahoozi had put Anakin through so much pain now that he could do nothing but scream.

…

By now, the sun was starting to set and still Anakin's cries ran through the air. His torture had started around noon, and the cracks of the whip and screams of pain became a familiar, but sickening, noise to my ears.

To me, it was like torture to me as well as Anakin. Kiojah, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying every gruesome second of it. His eyes kept gleaming with sadistic enjoyment and each scream made the corner of his lips twitch into the smallest hint of a grin.

The second the sun touched the edge of the horizon, Kiojah yelled a solitary word. "Stop!"

The man who had been whipping Anakin now stopped and the sound of Anakin's heavy breathing was all that could be heard for a few seconds.

Kiojah stood again and walked in front of the tribe. "Cut him off." He said to the man again.

The man took out a knife and cut the rope holding Anakin's wrists to the pole. The second the ropes stopped touching his skin, he collapsed to his hands and knees on the ground. His chest heaved with every gasp for breath and his shaking arms were all that kept him from slamming his face onto the blood-spattered earth below him.

"Now, Master Jedi," Kiojah spoke to me. "If you tell me how to destroy the Anarani, your friend will no longer feel the sting of pain while on our planet; if you don't…I can't keep any promises."

"I can't tell you that." I replied, trying to hide the grief in my voice.

Kiojah set his jaw and I watched helplessly as Anakin was hauled to his feet and dragged off by two Mahoozi men. Two more men then took my arms and dragged my hollow body back to the tent I had been in since yesterday.

The men re-tied me to the pole before they began to leave. "Wait!" I called. They turned around and look at me, waiting for me to continue. "Where have you taken A-" I stopped, remembering that the Mahoozi still didn't know our names. "Where have you taken the other Jedi?"

The man closes to the tent flap smiled while the other answered my question. "To the racks. And that's where he'll stay until we win this war."

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><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

Every nerve in my body screamed with pain as them men half-dragged, half-led me to the racks. I didn't even put up a fight when the men tied me to the wooden frame. I didn't have the energy to. My torn back was stretched out across the rack and I felt the skin pull apart and blood drip through. Pain shot though my chest with each raspy breath.

After the men left, I let a single tear trickle down my cheek. I would scream up to the sky, but my throat was still burning from all the screaming I had already done today. I closed my eyes and tried to get my breathing under control.

Curse Kiojah.

"Cursing him won't do anything." An elderly female voice sounded from the trees. "He's already cursed."

I turned my head slightly to see Jekaisa's form standing next to me. She untied my feet and hands and gently eased my shaking body onto the ground.

I grunted as dirt was pushed into the wounds on my back. "My…my back…." I whispered to her.

She understood and carefully rolled me onto my side. She clicked her tongue sympathetically on the roof of her mouth as she saw my gnarled back. "I am not allowed to heal you," she spoke. "Really, I'm not allowed to be here at all…but, I can give you _some_ relief." She placed the edge of a water skin by my lips and let me drink some of the cool water, helping soothe my blazing throat.

"Why are you doing this…?" I asked her.

"You remind me of my son when he was your age." Jekaisa told me softly.

"You…you had a son?"

"Yes." I hissed as Jekaisa poured a little bit of water over my burning back. "He was much like you until he was killed."

"What…what happened to him?" I asked between gasps of breath.

"Kiojah killed him. He accused my son and two other young men of helping the Anarani. At dawn one morning, he brought out the three of them and had them speared through the heart. They died almost instantly, but watching your son die is something a mother should have to see."

"I...I'm sorry…" I whispered.

"Mmm…don't worry." She placed the water skin next to her on the ground and helped me stand up. "What's done is done."

She tenderly helped me lay back on the rack and tied my ankles and wrists to the wood. It was extremely painful, even though she had loosely re-tied the rope.

"I really hope you and your friend make it back to your home soon." She told me before walking off into the trees and towards the village.

Even simply talking to Jekaisa had drained any energy out of me. The last thing I remember before unconsciousness took me was the flaring pain in my back.

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><p><strong>Sorry it's pretty short. I have been INSANELY busy with Thanksgiving and getting Christmas decorations up before Monday and had MAJOR writer's block… I know where I want to go with this story and I pretty much have the next chapter planned out, but I wasn't sure where to go with <strong>_**this**_** one! Anyways, I hope y'all liked it :)**

**PLEASE REVIEW, THANKS!**


	6. Chapter 6

**This update was much faster than the other! Yay! **

**Anyway, so back to school….I miss Thanksgiving break.**

**IMPORTANT: any talking in italics is said in the language the Mahoozi speak. This chapter will have more of Jekaisa's POV, so that's why I need it :)**

**I FORGOT THIS WITH THE LAST CHAPTER SO DON'T SUE ME: I don't own Star Wars, Mr. George Lucas does.**

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><p><strong>(Jekaisa Jaharia)<strong>

I sighed as I walked into the forest and away from the boy. Kiojah had done a lot to him since he and his friend arrived.

I felt bad for him, he didn't do anything wrong, the spirits simply let him onto our grounds. I didn't know if Kiojah was right in this situation or not… I wanted to say something to him about it. These really seemed to not know what the Anarani's weak point was. I was beginning to think that they really had no idea. After all, I had to explain to them who the Anarani were in the first place. Kiojah may think they do, but I disagree. Then again, I do disagree with a lot of Kiojah's thoughts. Especially his accusations against my son and his friends… My son would never have helped the Anarani. He was always loyal to the Mahoozi. He would hunt as much as possible, there were times he would come back to my tent and collapse from exhaustion.

I was so wrapped up in memories of my son that I didn't even notice I had wound up back in the village. It was completely dark except for the light of the moon now, the chilly night air had set into my skin and I longed for a blanket to wrap up in. I was heading to my tent when I heard the sound of someone cursing inside one of the tents. Ah, the tent the older Jedi was tied in.

I stood outside the flap and listened to the man inside. He was obviously pulling on the rope as hard as he could and cursing at it.

As I lifted the tent flap to walk inside, all of my assumptions had been right.

He was standing and yanking on the rope that had him tied to the wooden pole. "Son of a- oh." He stopped his next string of curses as he noticed me walk in.

"No need to worry, Master Jedi. I do not blame you for trying to get away. Though, I will say, I do not think you will be able to do that." I told him after I noticed the slightly nervous look in his eyes.

"Oh, um, thank you." He sighed and stared at the rope. "May I ask you a question?"

I was slightly shocked but smiled. "Of course."

"Ha…have you seen my friend since…" He started

"Since this evening? Yes, I have as a matter of fact."

His eyes immediately brightened up and began to speak. "Is-"

"He was alive when I saw him, which is all I really know."

He sighed and whispered more to himself than me, "But for how long…?"

The tent flap was then flung open and Rayoshi walked in. "Jekaisa,_ you are not supposed to be here. _Kiojah_ wishes to see you in his tent._" He said in our native tongue.

"_Yes,_ Rayoshi." I looked back at Obiwan once before leaving the tent and walking to Kiojah's tent with Rayoshi.

When we walked inside Kiojah's tent, I was surprised to find him pacing. He hardly ever seems nervous, especially around Rayoshi.

"_What is it, chief?" _Rayoshi asked.

"_What shall I do, _Rayoshi?" Kiojah returned Rayoshi's question with another.

"_About what?" _

"_About those Jedi. I was surprised that they didn't tell me anything during today. What am I going to do about this…?" _Kiojah never stopped in his constant pacing.

"_Kiojah, if I may suggest something…" _Rayoshi began to suggest a solution.

"_Please,_ Rayoshi_, keep going."_

"_The older one, he is desperate to see his friend. The younger one is going nowhere, as long as he stays in the condition he's in now. Leave both of them exactly where they are, no food, no water for as long as you wish. I'm sure they'll be more cooperative after that." _Rayoshi suggested.

No. Kiojah couldn't. The man's companion was already in a terrible condition, and I knew a fever would soon take him and after that…I didn't know if he could survive.

Despite any of my silent pleadings, Kiojah stopped pacing. He smiled at Rayoshi and nodded slowly. "_Yes. Leave them right where they are. No one sees them for two days._" Rayoshi glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "_After that, __**I**__ see them; __**alone**__."_

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I didn't know how long it had been since Jekaisa and Rayoshi had come into my tent. It had been hours; the sun was rising. I hadn't slept all night, or the night before. It was odd not having guards coming in every once in a while to make sure I was still here…still tied to the wretched post.

I turned around and yanked again on the rope leash. My wrists were raw from all the tugging and stung like hell, but I didn't care. I _had_ to get out of this tent and see Anakin.

Oh, Anakin. I sat down cross-legged and tried to meditate in the Force. There was so little Force on this planet that I could barely stretch my senses out to just outside the tent. A lump immediately formed in my throat when I realized that I couldn't feel Anakin's Force-presence. What if he was dead? No, no! He couldn't be dead! Not Anakin…!

I sighed as I tried harder to span my senses. I was able to get to Kiojah's tent with a strain. I took a deep breath and clenched my jaw as I spanned even further. _There_. I could barely feel Anakin's presence.

It was weak; beyond weak. I could feel the agony radiating from Anakin's location. I wanted to try to communicate with him, to send reassurance to him, but I couldn't keep my senses cast out so far for long. I gasped as I stopped meditating and opened my eyes.

The raw need to see Anakin grew and I tugged even harder on the rope a few times. It still didn't tear…at all. I gave up and walked over to the pole and half-heartedly hit my forehead on the wooden pole with a low _thunk_.

Hearing the sound my forehead made on the wood immediately gave me an idea. I started to scuff my foot right across the bottom of the pole. Some of the dirt moved and let me get a better idea of how deep the pole was dug into the ground. It looked like it was at least a foot below the surface. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try…

I stepped back a few paced and leapt at the pole. I kicked both of my feet squarely onto the wood and then landed lightly on my feet while silently praying that it worked. To my dismay, the stake didn't move at all out of the ground. It was still standing there, taunting me almost.

Being honest, I completely gave up after that. I sat down and leaned my head against the pole and closed my eyes, longing for sleep to give me an escape from this hellhole – even if it was only for a few hours.

I sighed and let my mind travel wherever it went: coming up with ideas of getting out of here and off this planet (most of those ideas would never work), reliving memories that randomly popped into my exhausted head, and wondering if the Holonet had already announced that Anakin and I were dead.

The great lack of sleep finally ended when sleep took over any conscious thoughts.

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><p><strong>(Jekaisa Jaharia)<strong>

I watched nervously as Kiojah and Rayoshi walked into the Jedi's tent.

Two times, the sun had risen since I had spoken to either Jedi. I had seen the younger one still tied to the racks earlier yesterday, but that was it.

The guards left their positions in front of the tent flap to leave Kiojah, Rayoshi, and the Jedi in peace. I, however, was not going to leave their conversation unheard. I crept to the back of the tent, the side that faced away from the rest of the village. I crouched and strained to hear Kiojah's words.

"Well, Master Jedi, are you hungry?" Kiojah taunted. I didn't hear the Jedi say anything, so Kiojah kept the 'conversation' going. "Have it your way. For your information, your friend has remained in the same position without food or drink for as long as you have. No medical attention, no help, nothing. You can change that if you simply tell me how to defeat the Anarani."

"I _don't_ know." The Jedi ground out most likely through clenched teeth.

The sounds of someone being slapped echoed from inside the tent.

"Rayoshi, _go get _Jekaisa_ and meet me in my tent._"

I rushed to somewhere else in the village and walked like I was going to my tent like any other day. I may be old, but I'm not stupid and clueless.

Rayoshi soon found me and we both went to Kiojah's tent. We waited for a while until Kiojah finally came in. I wondered what he had done to the Jedi while I was gone.

"Jekaisa,_" _Kiojah addressed me immediately. "_Have you heard anything from the spirits? Anymore help from them?_"

Yes…I did. Last night. There was a way to make two people switch bodies. "_I…I have. The spirits have showed me a spell where I can put a person's spirit in another person's body and vice versa."_

Kiojah's face cracked into a hint of a smile. "_Tell me more._"

"_You would have control over the body you were in, but you would not feel the feelings of that body, but that of your own. You would feel your body's pain, pleasure, hunger or thirst and the person you switched with would feel their body's pain, pleasure, hunger or thirst. Any bodily pain you inflict upon the body you are in, will not hurt you, but the spirit of the one you switched with. Does it make sense?"_

Kiojah looked very thoughtful, _too _thoughtful. I regretted telling Kiojah about this, for a sickening feeling was settling in my stomach. "_So, let us say that the younger Jedi and I switched places. I wouldn't feel his pain, but he would still feel his own?"_

I nodded and swallowed the lump of dread rising in my throat.

"_And you are sure you can perform such a spell?" _Kiojah asked me next.

"_I am sure of it._"

"Rayoshi," Kiojah turned to him. "_Get the _Jedi_ off the racks. Deal with him how you want, but I want his life to come within inches of death."_

Rayoshi smiled sadistically, nodded, and turned to go. Kiojah grabbed his upper arm and looked straight into his eyes before hissing. "_But if he dies, your heartbeat will mimic his own."_

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><p><strong>Heheheheeee! Ok so end of chapter 6! I hope the whole spell thing wasn't too confusing, if it is I'll try to explain it better for y'all :)<strong>

**Now, I will say one more thing. This is not to be some annoying desperate person BUT: like 1,120 people have read this story. Yes, I know you've read this. So you, yes you (the person reading this text and hopefully smiling at this), it would be **_**greatly**_** appreciated if you could take a minute out of your day (or night) to submit a review :)**

**Thanks!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! Y'all rock! I hope I didn't sound threatening or anything…*nervous grin* I'm really glad that I got this chapter up before my mid-terms! My teachers weren't that mean with homework overload so I could do this in my free-time :]**

**Italics in this chapter are the same as last chapter, so when Kiojah or Jekaisa or whoever are speaking in their own language, it'll be in italics. **

**Anywaaaays here's chapter 7!**

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><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I think it had been two day since my beating, but I wasn't totally sure. I wasn't totally sure of anything. All I knew was that everything in my body hurt. My back pulsed with burning agony; that burning was turning into an infection, I could feel it. I wished I didn't have to breathe, each breath made my ribs feel like they were being ripped out of my bruised and aching chest.

Other than the feeling of pain, the world was a blur to me. I was numb to everything around me. I heard, smelled, and saw some parts of my life; but I couldn't make sense of any of it. It was like being asleep, but conscious of everything going on around you.

I heard voices coming closer and three large shadows were cast over my stretched body. The ropes were quickly cut off my wrists and ankles and I immediately fell to the ground, gasping as air left my lungs and my back hit the ground.

"Get up." I heard Rayoshi's voice growl to me.

I coughed as I rolled over onto my hands and knees. I kept gasping for air as my muscles screamed from being released from their position in such a swift motion.

I cried out as Rayoshi kicked me in the gut and rolled me over onto my back again.

"I said, get up." Rayoshi commanded again.

I somehow pushed myself onto my knees and glared up at Rayoshi.

He smiled. "Better. Stand up."

My legs were still shaking and slightly numb from being strapped to the racks for Force knows how long. I gritted my teeth and painfully managed to stand up in front of Rayoshi. "Is this good enough for you?"

He looked surprised for a split second – as was I – as I stood eye-to-eye with him for the first time in days. His surprise turned into a smirk as he spoke. "Good, Jedi. Too bad it's not good enough for Kiojah."

The next thing I knew was a knife being stabbed into my side. It wasn't deep enough to pierce anything important, but it hurt like hell. I gasped and slowly fell to my knees with the dagger still in my side.

My vision was swimming, but I still looked at Rayoshi as he knelt down to my new level. I felt him slide the knife out of me and allowed my blood to flow freely down my side from the wound. The next thing I felt was Rayoshi's hand on my wound, but it wasn't in a good way. He peeled the skin back and I bit my tongue to keep from screaming. Rayoshi slowly stuck a finger inside, and I couldn't help but groan. In a matter of seconds, four fingers were in my knife-wound.

"Feel that, Jedi?" Rayoshi taunted.

Flames of pain flared in my side, but I wasn't going out without a fight. I launched myself at Rayoshi and knocked him on his back. I raised my fist and punched him in the nose before he rolled me over and pinned me to the ground.

Blood trickled out of Rayoshi's nose. He wiped some of it onto his arm before looking back down at me. He smiled menacingly, "I like your spirit, Jedi. Sadly, it won't get you anywhere with me."

After that, all I knew was pain.

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

Hours had passed since Kiojah and Rayoshi had been in my tent, and worry was growing inside of me.

Just as I was about to start trying to kick out the wooden pole behind me again, two Mahoozi men walked inside my tent and undid the rope leash and led me out of the tent and into the blinding sunlight.

Kiojah and Jekaisa were standing in the middle of the village with the other Mahoozi people around them. Kiojah was smiling, while Jekaisa's wrinkled face looked nervous and guilty.

"This is the last time I'll ask you, Master Jedi." Kiojah spoke. "What is the Anarani's weak point?" I was sick of that same question. It had been asked at least five times every day that Anakin and I were stuck here.

"I don't know." I ground out through clenched teeth.

Kiojah didn't look upset over this answer like he always had in past times. Instead, he looked to my left and I saw Rayoshi with three figures walking towards all of us. My stomach churned as I noticed the blood on Rayoshi's hands and chest. I closed my eyes as I saw the two guards behind him dragging Anakin's bloody body behind them.

The guards threw Anakin to the ground in front of Kiojah. He coughed and more blood trickled out of his mouth. He now had deep cuts on his chest to match the ones on his back. New bruises and gashes on his back were visible alone with the dull color of Anakin's usually bright blue eyes.

"Stand up." Kiojah ordered to Anakin. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest as he obviously lacked the strength to stand up. I sighed a sigh of relief when the guards helped him stand up in front of Kiojah. "Lead us to the tent, Jekaisa."

Jekaisa led Anakin (or at least the two men dragging him), Kiojah, and myself into the Kiojah's tent. Spices and herbs were scattered across the ground along with small, numerous fires.

Jekaisa made Anakin and Kiojah stand in the middle of the tent facing each other. Jekaisa bowed to the two before she started to mumble in her own language. She then got black chalk and created a large figure eight around the two men so that they were standing in the two circles with the crossing point in between them. Jekaisa then put a dot of chalk on Kiojah's forehead and over his heart on his chest. She did the same with Anakin and he clenched his teeth as some chalk went into a bleeding wound.

Jekaisa looked up at him with a silent apology in her eyes. What was she doing that she seemed so guilty and anxious over? My gut twisted as I feared what was coming.

Jekaisa then placed two of her fingers in a bowl full of blue paint and closed her eyes. She walked over to Kiojah, making sure to keep her feet from touching the black figure on the ground. She placed her two, blue fingers on Kiojah's forehead. With her other, non-painted hand she placed two fingers on Anakin's forehead.

Jekaisa then slowly took her fingers off Kiojah and Anakin's foreheads and switched foreheads. Now that her arms were crossed, I noticed that her eyes were glowing faintly with a white light.

I thought my heart was going to pound right out of my chest as she put her hands down in front of her and touched the middle of the figure eight on the ground. Small, black flames then erupted from the edges of the figure eight and kept burning at a constant pace.

"Herix ajji kolia nemerew jaxen zeminoth!" Jekaisa raised her voice with the last words and a bright light flashed for a small instant in Anakin and Kiojah's eyes. Kiojah's body then collapsed to the ground and didn't move. Anakin, on the other hand, seemed to stand straighter without the extreme aid of the Mahoozi men.

"I'm going to find out the weakness of the Anarani one way or another, Master Jedi." Anakin spoke to me, but I was shocked at his words and voice. His voice was that of Kiojah and his words were certainly _not_ Anakin's own. "Take them to the tent." Anakin ordered Jekaisa.

She grabbed Kiojah's wrists and led me to the same tent I had been in for the past five days. She gently laid Kiojah's body in the middle of the room as the guards left me with her and Kiojah's body.

"What the hell happened back there?" I asked her, my shock wearing off slightly.

"There…there is a spell that the spirits sent to me," Jekaisa began to explain. "It is a spell that switches the bodies of two people. They have control over the body they now possess, but still feel the sensations of their actual body."

"So…" I tried to make sense of all of what had happened in a matter of minutes. "Kiojah is now in Anakin's body and Anakin is in…?"I trailed off as I looked down to the body on the ground.

Jekaisa nodded slightly and I immediately sat down next to Kiojah – or Anakin's – body. He was breathing shallowly but quickly, and it scared me to think of what Kiojah could do to him right now. "Anakin? Anakin can you hear me?"

Two eyes cracked open and I was surprised to see that they were Anakin's blue instead of Kiojah's cold, brown ones. "Master…? What…happened?"

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><p><strong>(Chief Kiojah Dijerangu)<strong>

I looked down at the Jedi's body. Rayoshi had done just as I had wished; the boy had looked dead when I first saw him. Cuts and bruises covered his chest and back. Some blood dripped onto the Jedi's metal arm and gleamed on the metallic surface. My plan was working exactly as I planned.

"Rayoshi," I turned to him. "_Lead me to the spirit's wall."_

Rayoshi and I walked towards the edge of Mahoozi ground and to where the Anarani were constantly trying to break down the barrier. Before the Anarani could see either me or Rayoshi, we stopped.

"Rayoshi,_ I want you to leave the Jedi and Jekaisa in the tent. They will be fine and I need all of the men to get ready for war. Soon, I'll have the information we need."_ I instructed Rayoshi and he nodded before I turned to the Anarani and the spirit's wall.

I slouched forward slightly, and limped on my right leg. I made my breathing seem like it was a huge effort to even do such a simple act like that. I wrapped my left arm around my stomach to press my hand to the knife wound Rayoshi had created there.

I stumbled forward into the view of the Anarani warriors. I collapsed right in front of the spirit wall and lay there, coughing to let more blood leak out of my mouth.

"_It's a_ Jedi!" I heard one man say.

"Kiojah _must have done this to him_." Another spoke.

"Master Jedi," another man called out to me in Basic. "Can you walk?"

I nodded slightly before getting on my knees and holding my side in fake pain.

"Come closer to us and we can take you to our village." He offered to me.

It took all self-control to not begin to beam when I heard his offer of hospitality. I stood up and made my "wobbling" feet carry me forward and collapsed again in the arms of the man who spoke. I coughed again and blood covered the man's arms.

"Harelke _will take care of him._" He spoke again. "Medelha, _help me_."

I closed my eyes and pretended to be falling unconscious as the man and another took my arms and put them around their shoulders to help me walk to the Anarani village.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

After Jekaisa finished explaining what happened to Anakin, he closed his eyes and winced. "So, if Kiojah does anything to my body, I'll feel it?"

"Yes." Jekaisa answered sadly.

"Great." Anakin tried to smile reassuringly at me but it turned into a coughing fit.

"Anakin, you need to rest. You've been though…a lot." I swallowed the bile in my throat as I watched him writhe on the ground as he coughed violently.

He nodded and closed his eyes. I gently grabbed Jekaisa's arm and took her to the side of the tent. "Is there _anything_ we can do?" I asked her quietly.

"I'm sorry, but no. Kiojah is probably already with the Anarani. Once he finds out their weakness, he'll find a way back here and then go to war once I've placed his spirit in his body and Anakin's spirit in his body. Until then, there is nothing we can do."

"What will happen to us after Kiojah returns and is switched back?"

"I…I don't know." Jekaisa looked at me with sadness in her eyes. "When you are of no use to Kiojah, I fear that he might..."

"You don't have to finish that. I fear the same thing." I stroked my beard and watched Anakin as he lay on the ground, barely breathing still, but peacefully.

The peace was immediately disrupted when he began to cough violently again. He had sat up his chest still shook and heaved with each cough. I placed my hand on his back to try and ease his pain.

That was when I remembered that this wasn't his back. It was Kiojah's. Anakin's was bloody, torn, bruised, raw, sore, infected, and most likely sensitive to even the slightest touch. Blood wasn't coming out of Anakin's mouth when he coughed as it had in his actual body earlier. His mechanical hand wasn't gleaming in front of me, but instead was Kiojah's tanned flesh. His dirty blond hair wasn't covered in dirt and blood, but instead was spiky and black with a blue feather. It was Kiojah's; not Anakin's. Everything was Kiojah…but Anakin was inside.

A lump was beginning to form in my throat, but I swallowed it before Anakin spoke.

He had stopped coughing and was looking at me with worry clouding his tired blue eyes. "Master? Are you alright?"

I nodded quickly. "Yes. Yes, Anakin, I'm fine. Get some rest, you need it."

"You need to, too."

I nodded and patted his shoulder once before standing up to rest against the wooden pole. Sleep instantly took over my exhausted body.

* * *

><p><strong>(Chief Kiojah Dijerangu) <strong>

When we finally reached the Anarani village, I made myself seem like I could barely stand. I glanced around the village and hid a smile.

Meat hung on racks, ready for eating. Women were walking in from fields carrying large baskets full of fruits. I didn't see a single sick man, woman, or child in the whole village. Children were playing games, but then became curious as they noticed me. _This_, _this_ is what I want for the Mahoozi. This is what will soon be mine once I find the weakness of the Anarani.

One brave little brown-haired girl walked over to the man on my right. "Medelha, _will you come help me_?"

"_Not now_, Li'ana." The man must have been Medelha and the girl was Li'ana. "_This man is very hurt and we need Chief_ Harelke _to help him_."

The little girl stared up at me with big green eyes. "_Is he a _Jedi, Medelha?"

"_Yes_-" Medelha was cut off as a man I assumed to be Chief Harelke spoke.

"Li'ana,_" _the man spoke in a deep, but kind voice. Hmph. Kindness; more like a characteristic of complete failure. "_Go find _Jarina."

Li'ana nodded and ran off to a nearby tent. Soon after she entered the tent, she left with an elderly woman at her side. She looked a lot like Jekaisa….

"Jarina,_"_ Harelke instructed her in Basic. "Take this man to be healed, then we will speak to him_._"

"No!" I gasped. Harelke looked at me in shock, and Li'ana looked at me like I was crazy. "Don't…you can't heal me. It will only…make it…worse." This was the best excuse I could come up with, even though it didn't make any sense. I couldn't be healed! If I was healed, the boy would be healed and that would ruin everything. If anything, the boy had to be put through _more_ pain.

"What do you mean?" Li'ana asked. The elderly woman jabbed the young girl in the back with a bony finger.

"Kiojah…Kiojah put a curse upon me and…my friend. If you try…to heal me…it will only make it hurt worse." Harelke looked convinced and I was saved from my nonsense statement earlier.

"Jarina, Medelha, and Serisho, take this man to a tent and let him rest. I will speak to him later." Harelke told the men on my side and the woman.

They led me into a tent with a small mat and blankets on one side. Medelha and Serisho gently eased me down onto the bed and Jarina came over with a small basin of water. I drank only a few sips before pretending to become unconscious again.

I listened as the six feet padded out of the tent and the tent flap swished back over the entrance. I sat up after that and looked down at my bloody side. Rayoshi had created a wonderful wound which I planned to take full advantage of.

'_Any bodily pain you inflict upon the body you are in will not hurt you, but the spirit of the one you switched with.' _Jekaisa's words rang inside my head.

I smiled as I looked back down at the gaping wound. I got up and grabbed a thin, short stick that had been lying on the ground. I sat back down on the mat and blankets and poked the stick around the wound. I could already imagine the Jedi squirming back in the village. I smiled again as I slid the end of the stick inside the knife wound.

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><p><strong>That's the end of chapter 7! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in the next week! Maybe even before Friday if y'all are lucky x]<strong>

**Thank you again to everyone who reviewed! Reviews for this chapter would also be greatly appreciated :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 already! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! They all made me happy :D**

**I'm terribly sorry for the long time between updates. We just found out a week ago that my uncle has cancer so everything has been in the air and of course Christmas is in a few days which just adds to the madness!**

**Same thing with the italics as the past two chapters. Italics = not English. **

**I hope y'all enjoy chapter 8!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STARWARS. AT ALL. **

* * *

><p><strong>(Jekaisa Jaharia)<strong>

The older Jedi woke up with a start as the younger one suddenly cried out and arched his back.

We both rushed over to him and the Jedi held him down by his wrists while I attempted to hold his ankles down. He kept screaming and writhing on the ground, like someone was hurting him.

"What's happening?" The ginger-haired Jedi yelled over the boy.

"Kiojah." I answered. "Kiojah is doing this to him."

The Jedi stared at me with worry evident in his face. "He wouldn't kill him, would he?"

"Not while Kiojah is in his body. If he did that, there would be a great risk of Kiojah himself dying." I explained.

After a few minutes of listening to the Jedi's tortured screams and trying to keep him held down, it stopped almost as quickly as it had come. He now lay panting on the ground with the other Jedi looking sick with concern.

"Master…" He whispered hoarsely.

"Shh." The Jedi told him. "I'm right here. Now sleep…" Soon afterwards the younger one relaxed and fell into a fitful rest.

The Jedi and I sat in silence until he spoke hesitantly. "Can I ask you a question?"

I looked at him with a small grin. "On one condition: I get to ask _you_ a question."

He glanced at the younger Jedi for a split second before speaking again. "Only if I wish to answer it."

"Agreed." I smiled. "Now, Master Jedi, what is your question?"

"The Anarani, will they be kind to Kiojah?" He was obviously concerned about his friend's health.

"They won't beat him if that's what you're really trying to ask me." I told him reassuringly. "Knowing the Anarani, Kiojah is probably already in their village being cared for."

"Then why was he being put through more pain?"

"Kiojah must have done it. I know the karija of the Anarani very well, and I have spoken with the chief before too. They wouldn't harm an injured man – especially an injured Jedi who came from the Mahoozi grounds."

"That's reassuring." The Jedi seemed to relax a little before looking back at me. "What was your question?"

"Do you have a name or shall I forever call you Master Jedi?"

The man chuckled lightly before smiling. "Yes, I do have a name. I'm Obiwan and he-" he pointed to the younger man. "-is Anakin."

"It's certainly nice to know your name." I smiled at Obiwan. "Is he your apprentice?"

"No. Not anymore, at least."

"He has called you 'master' multiple times, though."

"That's just an old habit. I keep telling him that he doesn't have to keep calling me that, but it's natural for him."

"Old habits are hard to break. There was a child that called me that once, as well." I remembered my son with a heavy heart.

"Who? If you don't mind me asking." Obiwan quickly added the last part.

"No, I don't mind. Calik was my son. He was only 20-years-old when he died, but he did survive the slaughtering of all the children when the Anarani avenged their dead chief. Some children above the age of 10 lived that night, but most of the children were killed because of Kiojah's foolish and murderous actions. After the killings, Kiojah gathered all the remaining children together and told them that they should have died with the others. He called all of them – even the ones who were barely old enough to understand what was going on – cowards for hiding to keep their lives while their friends and siblings were being murdered. After that, he made the children servants. He said that they would have to work to prove themselves to Kiojah and the spirits. Within hours, every child was forced to call _every_ adult 'master.'"

"Even their own parents?"

I confirmed it gloomily. "Even their own parents. Every child slaved in the fields and in hunting parties trying to get some food. They all tried to prove themselves to Kiojah, but nothing was ever good enough for him. Most of the children died of exhaustion and starvation, but Kiojah didn't care. To him, it just proved that they were weak and unworthy of being a Mahoozi."

"Is that how your son died?"

"No. He and two of his friends always worked in the fields closest to the spirit's wall because they were the oldest of all the children. They worked hard and Calik would always come back to my tent and sleep until dawn when he would go back out to the fields to - with the spirits' favor - survive another day. One day, Kiojah accused Calik and his friends of helping the Anarani break down the spirits' barrier. He and his friends were killed later that day in front of the whole village for something none of them did."

"So, because of a _suspicion_, Kiojah _murdered_ three people?"

"He's murdered more than three people because of the way his mind works. Many of our own people have been killed simply because Kiojah thinks that they are not needed or are traitors to the Mahoozi. My son was only one of many."

I could see Obiwan silently pray that Anakin wouldn't become another victim of Kiojah's cold-blooded killing. I looked down and saw blue eyes staring at him.

"I'm not going to die, Master." Anakin whispered to him.

Though he had said the words confidently, I could see in his eyes that he didn't completely believe them himself. The boy was just like Calik was. He would never admit to any pain or worry. Those were the exact words that he had told me every day before he went out to the fields. Every night he would come back and tell me 'I told you so.' He was right every time, until he had been killed by Kiojah.

I knew exactly what Obiwan was going through, and it made me immediately think of what Kiojah was going to do to Anakin next…

* * *

><p><strong>(<strong>**Chief Kiojah Dijerangu)**

I tossed the now bloody stick back to the dirt and smiled as I saw the fresh blood oozing out of old wounds on the Jedi's body. I wished I could see him laying in that tent. The Jedi was going to die. He _was_ dying. I could feel it, slowly but surely, it was happening.

It didn't matter,_ I_ was in control now. He wouldn't die while I was in control of him. Not that that mattered, either. When I found out what the Anarani's weakness was, both Jedi would die and the Mahoozi would rule the planet.

I was torn from my thoughts when I noticed a small pair of eyes watching me from the tent flap. I had to pretend to be a Jedi now.

"I'm not going to hurt you. You can come out." I called out weakly to the child and forced a small smile onto my face.

The eyes turned into a brown-haired head and then a young girl's body appeared. I recognized her from earlier. "Madelha told me to leave you alone, but I had to see you. You're a Jedi, right?" She asked.

I nodded slowly.

"I knew you were!" She almost shouted the words. "The other kids said that you weren't, but I didn't believe them." The girl ran over and plopped down next to me. "Madelha has told me stories of Jedi before, but I've never met one in person."

"What kind of stories?" Maybe, somehow, this little girl could be the key to the success of the Mahoozi's victory.

"Stories about how Jedi have saved people like us."

"People like you?" I questioned her quietly.

"Yes. People who are fighting and want to stop."

"You want it to end?"

The child nodded. "I don't like seeing people die over something as stupid as a war."

"Why do you think it's stupid?" I wanted to slap the idiotic girl, but I knew couldn't. The Anarani started the war almost sixteen years ago; it was her own people's fault.

"Because, innocent people die over it."

"Surely there have been less Anarani deaths than Mahoozi?" Honestly, how could a child be so upset over this! She wasn't even _alive_ for half the war! Maybe...maybe this was one of the Anarani's greatest weaknesses. If a mere _child_ felt so strongly over the war, think of what the adults were like! Compassion, it was truly a real weakness. It made a man weak when it was time to be strong. It made a man a coward; a soft-hearted child.

"Many Anarani have died. Chief Larhezete died. He was the greatest leader the Anarani ever had. Or at least, that's what my father said."

"Why did your father say that about him?" I made myself cough hoarsely a few times before speaking again in an equally hoarse voice. "Does he not like Chief Harleke?" If the Chief had a weakness that could easily be exploited, this child could help me win the war and break the curse.

The girl shrugged. "My father never knew Harleke when he was chief." That wasn't helpful.

I knit my eyebrows together. "Why not?"

"He died the same night Chief Larhezete did." She turned her bright green eyes towards the ground and spoke in a more sober tone.

"Who takes care of you?"

"Everyone. I stay with Madelha, but he can't keep track of me all the time, so everyone pitches in. Though, it's not like having parents…I miss them a lot."

"I'm so sorry." I forced myself to actually sound mournful.

Li'ana then perked up and looked up at me. "Are you going to stop Kiojah and make the war end?" She asked me hopefully with tears shining in her eyes.

"I...I don't know, child." I hope that was a legit answer a Jedi would give.

"I think you will. What's your name? I want to remember it so when you _do_ save us, I can thank the spirits for you." The girl smiled like any innocent 8-year-old would.

I had never learned the Jedi's names, so I couldn't tell her this Jedi's real name. "Rikashi." I answered swiftly so she wouldn't suspect anything.

"I'm Li'ana." She grabbed my blood-stained hand in her own smaller one and shook it.

I fake winced and she immediately let go of my hand. "Sorry!" Li'ana quickly blurted out.

"You better not be hurting our guest." A man's voice came from the tent opening.

Li'ana cringed before spun around. "It was an accident, Chief Harleke!"

The Anarani Chief smiled. "I'm sure it was, Li'ana. Now, go help Jarina; I need to speak with your friend."

Li'ana dashed out of the tent and Harleke looked down at me. "Sorry if she annoyed you."

I shook my head. Harleke sat down next to me where Li'ana had sat only a minute ago before speaking.

"Now, Master Jedi, how did you fall into Kiojah's control?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

Anakin had told me he wasn't going to die. I prayed to the Force that he wouldn't. Though, sadly, I didn't really believe him… Granted, I couldn't see his mangled and blood-covered body, but I could see in his eyes and how he breathed that he was _not_ in good health conditions.

I knew that Kiojah must have not been letting the karija of the Anarani care for him because, if anything, Anakin was getting worse. Infection was most likely set into the various wounds on Anakin's body. Fever had also taken over him, I could tell by how a thin shine of sweat was constantly covering him.

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do?" I asked Jekaisa for the tenth time that day.

The elderly woman grinned sympathetically but shook her head. "I could try to heal this body, but I don't think it would do much good."

"We might as well try…" Anakin whispered.

"There is a risk, though." Jekaisa mentioned.

"What risk?" I needed to know before we tried anything on Anakin.

"Kiojah. He might feel that we try to heal his own body, if he feels it, he very well might hurt Anakin further." Jekaisa explained. Sadly, her words made sense. Kiojah would harm Anakin without a second's thought.

"I still want to try." Anakin told us. This made up my mind on whether to try it or not. Anakin hated doctors, and he hated the healing process. If he was willing to have someone heal him, the pain must be unbearable for him.

Jekaisa looked at me before I nodded. She gently placed a wrinkled hand over Anakin's heart and another on his forehead. She began to chant and I closed my eyes, trying to push my own health into Anakin.

* * *

><p><strong>(Chief Kiojah Dijerangu)<strong>

I had explained my story – quite convincingly, if I do say so myself – to Chief Harleke. I had crash landed on this planet along with my other Jedi companion. Kiojah had artfully captured us and beat us until we answered the questions he asked. We never told the answers; therefore we were put in more pain. I had managed to wriggle out of the ropes attaching me to the racks and had run to the spirit's wall and to help.

Chief Harleke had believed me and left afterwards to speak with other Anarani people to discuss what to do next.

Luckily, it wouldn't involve healing me. The curse I had made up earlier was still keeping their karija from attempting to heal any wounds.

My thoughts were interrupted as a strange feeling washed over me. It was a comforting feeling, almost a feeling of pain easing out of my body… Pain easing out of my body…?

Jekaisa.

She was trying to heal the Jedi by healing me! It wouldn't work. She would pay for it as soon as I returned to camp.

I was about to curse her aloud when the tent flap was thrust back and a little girl came skipping in and sat down next to me.

"Hello, Li'ana," I spoke quietly to her. "What do you need?"

"I heard your story, even though Tariku told me to stay away to leave you in peace…" She said in a whisper.

"Who's Tariku?"

"The guard outside. He's there to keep kids like me outside."

"Then why does he let you in?" I was trying to pretend to be exhausted from my talk with Harleke.

"Well…he doesn't _exactly_ let me in… He just stands there talking to other people while I come in." Li'ana's green eyes were avoiding my own as she explained.

"You mean you sneak in?"

"Well…yeah…" Li'ana stared at the ground for a split second before immediately perking back up and looking straight at me. "Do you really have a friend in the Mahoozi camp?"

I nodded, trying to look upset about it.

"Do you think he'll get hurt?" Li'ana's eyes reflected her worry for a man that she never even met. I was beginning to think that the Anarani were _too_ kind. The Jedi could be _easily_ used as leverage… If I could get back to camp and use them as a bargaining chip, I could win the war and bring the Anarani to their knees. But I needed to know more about them. I needed to know how they worked, if my plan would really work, how they would be most affected.

"Most likely." I told the girl.

"Maybe we can help!" The girl jumped up and started to go out of the tent to help.

"Li'ana!" I called weakly at her. "Chief Harleke already knows, don't worry about it child."

Li'ana stopped, but gently held the edge of the tent flap. "Well, I'm going to make sure that he does something." She said defiantly before swiftly leaving the tent. She was a feisty child. Everyone in the village knew her and – from what she had said – had taken care of her like their own daughter.

I smiled at my new discovery, and then my eyes drifted back to the stick.

Curse Jekaisa. She was going to pay…_now_.

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

Jekaisa's plan didn't work. She and Obiwan were whispering on the opposite side of the tent. Honestly, I was surprised that Kiojah hadn't done anything to me yet.

I hated the feeling of complete vulnerability. I couldn't do anything to keep Kiojah from harming my body. It was like I was constantly _waiting_ for pain to override my senses.

Sadly, just as I was thinking about it, it happened. At first, it was only a dull pain, like the kind you get when you hit your knee on something hard. But then, without warning, it became a burning, intense agony that made me close my eyes and scream. I vaguely heard Obiwan and Jekaisa talking to me; well it was more like yelling over my screams.

"There's nothing we can do!" I heard Jekaisa tell Obiwan gently.

Luckily, the intense pain ended after a few minutes. It was the shortest amount of time I had pain inflicted upon me. Though, sadly, the pain still lingered in my muscles and bones to the point of a constant aching.

"I'm…Master Kenobi," I heard snippets of Jekaisa continue to speak to Obiwan. "…nothing…can do for him…Kiojah…in control."

I didn't hear Obiwan's words or any more of Jekaisa's. Her last words rang in my ears.

Kiojah was in control.

He decided whether I died or not.

But I could do something about it…

"Master," I gasped to get his attention.

He immediately grabbed my flesh hand and looked down at me. "What is it, Anakin?"

"Kill me."

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><p><strong>BWAHA! Again, I'm sorry for the long time in between updates. Like I said, I've spent most of my time in a hospital or doing other activities. Hopefully it'll be a shorter wait for y'all this time (reviews always help speed it up x] )<strong>

**Anyways, there's chapter 8! MERRY CHRISTMAS! **

**Reviews are **_**greatly**_** appreciated even if it's just "I likey." Or "I hatey..." depending on how you like or dislike it I suppose **


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you so so so so so SOOOOOO much for all the reviews! They all made me immediately start writing more of this chapter! SO, I hope y'all enjoy :)**

**I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas and are going to have a wonderful New Year! Ugh, school is back in session soon, too. So…good luck surviving another semester :P**

**Same thing the past few chapters. Italics = not English.**

**I, with a great deal of sorrow, DO NOT OWN STAR WARS. SO DON'T SUE ME.**

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

"Kill me."

My heart stopped when Anakin said those two words. I couldn't! I wouldn't!

"Anakin, I-" I began to object but was interrupted by Anakin.

"You know that if you kill me, you kill Kiojah."

"Yes, it kills Kiojah; but what if _you_ die, Anakin?"

"Then you'll still be a Jedi and life will go on."

"Anakin, you can't ask me to do this."

"I can and I am. Master…_Obiwan_, you need to do this."

"I don't need to_ murder_ you!" That's exactly what it would feel like, murder. Not doing my duty, not saving many people's lives by killing the man who takes them, but by _murdering _my own brother. I wouldn't be any better off than Kiojah himself! "I'm sure there's something else we could do!" I looked pleadingly up at Jekaisa.

"Your friend is right, Anakin," she spoke to him. "You could die in the process."

"I'm dying anyway." Anakin replied.

"Don't say that." My voice came out in barely a whisper, my throat was constricting from the pain of thinking about killing Anakin.

"I can feel it, Master. If I'm going to die, I at least want to save people with my death."

I sighed deeply. If Anakin could survive the time between changing bodies… No. He couldn't! The Anarani would give his body a proper burial before we could even touch him! He would be stuck in Kiojah's body until his own body was dead. "How do you even know that you'll make it to get out of Kiojah's body?" I asked.

"The Anarani will not destroy his body before we get to it." Jekaisa explained. "They have a tradition for those who are about leave this planet to join the spirits. They will leave his body on a bed with spices and oils to prepare him for passing on. The journey to the Anarani camp is only a half-day's walk if we escape then we came make it easily."

I looked back at Anakin and swallowed hard. It was Kiojah's body, but Anakin – my brother – was still inside of it. Anakin had said it himself: he was dying. I just didn't want to admit it… But what if he _did_ die? He also wanted to die with reason. I don't blame him. After years of war, dying without a cause made everything seem pointless, like it was just a way for everyone involved to kill time.

Maybe killing him was the best way…

* * *

><p><strong>(Chief Kiojah Dijerangu)<strong>

I had everything figured out. That little girl Li'ana had made everything a success. She had come back after apparently making sure that Harleke knew that the other Jedi was in the Mahoozi camp.

Harleke himself had come to my tent with Li'ana dragging him by two fingers.

"Tell him what you told me, Chief Harleke." Li'ana stared up at Harleke with a childish smile on her face.

Harleke sighed and gently told Li'ana to go outside with Tariku while we talked. She trudged out of the tent with a dejected sigh.

Once she left, I decided to speak. "Is there anything you can do to help my friend?"

Harleke nodded. "We have come up with a plan to get him out."

I felt like jumping up and shouting in triumph. "What is it?"

"The spirits' barrier that the Mahoozi have is soon going to break. When it does, we'll march in and strike. Kiojah will fall, and you and your friend will be safe." Harleke explained. It seemed simple, but there had to be a flaw somewhere in his plan…

"What if the Mahoozi overwhelm you?" I needed to find the mistake. There was always a mistake.

"The only way they could do that would be to destroy our weapons. Other than that, the Mahoozi are as good as dead." _THAT_ was their mistake.

"Let's pray that doesn't happen." I said, even though I was already devising a plan to make it happen.

Harleke nodded. "We'll attack in the morning."

After Harleke left, Li'ana poked her head through the opening in the tent again. "Harleke told me to leave you alone, but I wanted to say that I'm really thankful that the spirits sent you to help us."

I couldn't help but smile; not for the child's thanks, but for the fact that by tomorrow night_, I_ would rule this planet.

"So am I, child." I told her in an almost dark tone. "So am I."

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

Obiwan was pacing the length of the tent as he continued to fight with himself internally.

I coughed again as another sharp pain shot across my chest. The pain was constant; a continual, nagging, aching pain. My body was giving in to death's call. I knew it. Even if I wasn't in my own body, I could feel it happening.

Jekaisa gently placed her worn hand on my forehead. "You're getting worse." She commented.

Obiwan stopped pacing and stared at the ground. "Are you sure about this, Anakin?" He asked without moving his gaze from the dirt.

"Yes." I answered simply.

That was when Obiwan turned to me and I noticed the pain in his eyes. He walked over and knelt next to me.

Jekaisa then pulled a silver cylinder from the side of her right fur boot. It was a very familiar cylinder…it was Obiwan's lightsaber. She gently pressed it into the palm of his hand and gave a small sympathetic grin before leaving for the opposite side of the tent.

Obiwan stared at his lightsaber and I thought he was going to throw up. I lifted my hand to place it comfortingly on his shoulder as his gaze traveled back to me.

I nodded slightly, confirming that this was what he had to do. He placed the hilt of the lightsaber on my chest. I noticed that Obiwan's breathing was almost as labored as mine was as his finger hung suspended above the activation button.

He swallowed before speaking again. "You're going to make it off of this planet alive." He said in a determined tone. "I promise."

Then the saber sprang to life and a gasp of intense agony left my throat before darkness consumed me and I felt nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>(Li'ana Karadel)<strong>

I looked up at the sun before looking back at Tariku and Madelha. It was sun-high, which meant that Madelha would take Tariku's place as guarding the Jedi's tent from intruders. It may have been odd to be guarding an injured man, but Chief Harleke wanted to be safe in case the Mahoozi decided to attack to get him back.

Madelha began to talk to Tariku and turned their backs for a few seconds. That was my cue to run into the tent before they saw me and made me stay out.

I quickly darted inside the tent and stilled the tent flap so Tariku and Madelha wouldn't suspect anyone. When I turned around, I noticed Rikashi's pale and motionless body. I couldn't help but scream.

Tariku and Madelha instantly appeared behind me and I whipped around and buried my face into Madelha's chest. I sobbed quietly as Tariku went over to him.

"_He's dead_." Tariku announced solemnly.

"_We should tell_ Harleke. _He will want to know_." Madelha suggested with an equally solemn tone.

Madelha picked me up and let me keep crying onto his shoulder as he and Tariku went to Chief Harleke's tent.

"Harleke?" Madelha carefully carried me into the chief's tent.

"_What is it_, Madelha?" Chief Harleke's voice came from the other side of the tent.

"Li'ana _here found the_ Jedi _dead in his tent_." Tariku explained.

"_His name is_ Rikashi." My muffled voice said.

"_He's dead_?" Chief Harleke asked, shocked. He sighed. "Tariku, _please go find_ Jarina _and have her prepare his body for the burial_. Li'ana, _you can help her if you want_."

I shook my head with my face still hidden by Madelha's shoulder. "_Can we go home_?" I asked him quietly.

"_Yes, child, we can_."

Madelha carried me home and sat down on my mat with me.

"_He was going to save us_." I whispered sadly.

Madelha gently hugged me. "_Maybe his friend can help us_."

"_Can I go with you to save him_?"

"Li'ana, _a war zone isn't the place for a girl like you_." Madelha explained gently.

"_I want to go_!" I protested. "Rikashi's _friend needs help and I want to help him_!" I didn't really think about being in an actual war zone, but I had been in one before, so surely this wouldn't be that bad especially now that I was older.

"_You can help him by waiting here with _Jarina _to take him to_ Jarina's _tent. Can you do that for me_?"

I nodded even though I still wanted to go help the Jedi.

"_Do you want to go help_ Jarina _with_ Rikashi's _body_?" Madelha asked kindly. I nodded slightly and Madelha picked me up as we walked to Jarina's tent.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

Four men burst through the tent opening as they heard the snap-hiss of my lightsaber. One kicked me in the gut and held me to the ground with my arms behind my back as the other two held Jekaisa in her position on the other side of the tent. The fourth man knelt down beside Kiojah's body and pressed two fingers to the pulse point on his next.

"You've killed him!" He yelled at me. The men holding me down jerked me up until I was standing in front of the man. He pressed the edge of a dagger to my neck as the tent flap swished open and another man told him to stop.

I looked at the new man to see Rayoshi's cold eyes looking at Kiojah's body and then to me. "This was unexpected." He narrowed his eyes as he continued to speak. "Jekaisa, prepare Kiojah for a burial."

Jekaisa left with the two guards carrying Kiojah's body behind her.

"Tie him up." Rayoshi told the men holding me.

My back hit the wooden pole with a painful amount of force when the men threw me against it. My arms were tied tightly behind the pole. This time my feet were tied to a short amount of rope attached to the pole and a rope was tied around my neck, making it harder to breath.

The men then left. I was able to see a quick glance of the world outside the tent as the tent flap was thrust open by the men leaving. It was getting dark; the sun was most likely barely a sliver of light left along the horizon.

I closed my eyes and attempted to fall asleep.

Of course, it never happened. My mind was full of worry about Anakin. Was he already dead? Would we be able to switch Anakin back before he died if he was still alive?

Even if we did make it, would he survive long enough to get off this planet?

* * *

><p><strong>(Rayoshi Lonike)<strong>

I had managed to fall asleep after long hours of contemplation over the death of Kiojah.

What would we do without Kiojah? How would we win the war now?

My question was answered when the world of dreams and spirits took over my senses. I stood on a glistening lake with the stars shining in the sky above me. I began to panic until a cloud of mist formed next to me.

Kiojah then emerged from the fog and all worry was washed out of me. Kiojah would tell me what to do.

"Rayoshi," Kiojah began to speak. "_As you have already figured out, the _Jedi_ have killed me."_

"_Yes, _Kiojah." I bowed my head to keep my gaze from meeting Kiojah's. "_There was nothing I could do. I did not know what they were doing until you were dead."_

"_It matters not."_ Kiojah waved his hand dismissively and I dared to look up and see that Kiojah was not angry with me. "_I need you to finish the _Anarani."

"_How? I do not know their weakness or any plans of attack or defense they have created for the _Jedi _they still have."_

"_I will tell you how." _Kiojah began to walk across the water and I followed his rippling footsteps. "_The _Anarani _are planning to attack our camp in the morning."_

"_But the spirits'-"_ I could not finish my sentence as Kiojah spun around to face me.

"_The spirits' barrier is almost broken through. Tomorrow, the _Anarani_ will break it and attack camp. Their plan is to kill me, and take the _Jedi_ back to their own camp. Their weakness is their weapons. They will have them all on a cart on the outskirts of our territory, waiting for when their warriors need to re-load on arrows or sharper knives. I need you to destroy that source, without weapons, their men will be completely helpless. Kill _Harleke_, and destroy the rest of the _Anarani._ When they are all dead, you will take my place as chief. As chief, I want you to kill the _Jedi_. I don't care how you do it, just do it. They are of no use to us after tomorrow. Can you do this?"_

"_You can always count on me, _Kiojah." I promised my dead chief.

He smiled and nodded before beginning to fade. "_Remember, _Rayoshi,_ the fate of this planet is in your hands."_

With that, he was gone and I was left standing alone on the water. The water began to swirl around my feet until it became a whirlpool. I was sucked to the bottom of the lake as rushing water flooded my mouth and lungs, washing out any air I had. Just before I blacked out, I jolted into a sitting position and found myself in my tent with air in my lungs and with no water near me.

I quickly stood up and looked outside my tent to see the moon and stars still keeping daylight from covering the world.

"Narianku!" I called over the top warrior of the Mahoozi. He was a strong, sturdy man with black paint splashed across his chest and arms. "_Get all able bodied men together, we fight at dawn."_

* * *

><p><strong>BWAHAHA! Kiojah's dead! And Anakin might be, too…*cough cough* please don't hate me.<strong>

**ANYWAYS: I hope y'all liked chapter 9 and I hope it's lived up to any expectations y'all have :]**

**REVIEWS ARE BEYOND APPRECIATED! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed or faved this story! It means so much :]**

**So I've successfully survived the first week of this semester in school, though it was with great difficulty….I'm already ready for spring break. xD I hope y'all all survived it, too! It'd be bad if you died from school…**

**Same thing as previous chapters. Italics = not English.**

**I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS. Nobody got it for me for Christmas... :[**

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

Rayoshi came into my tent soon after and cut the rope off my neck.

"If you value your life or give a rip about Jekaisa's, you might want to cooperate." He whispered harshly before untying my feet and hands. He then retied my hands behind my back and shoved me forward.

"Go to Kiojah's tent." Rayoshi ordered.

I walked forward and then I noticed all the men running around, gathering arrows, sharpening knives or re-stringing bows. It was still dark, but small fires scattered around the camp created a glow around everyone, giving them the ability to see what they were doing.

Once we were in Kiojah's tent, Rayoshi forced me to my knees and tied my hands to a leash attached to a tent-stake at the end of the tent. Then, without a word, he left the tent.

I closed my eyes and realized that I could hear him talking just outside the tent flap. I tried to shut everything out and just listen to the sound of Rayoshi's voice; sadly he wasn't speaking in basic. I sighed and decided to just let the upcoming events play out.

* * *

><p><strong>(Jekaisa Jaharia)<strong>

I stared down at Kiojah's body. It was on a table in my tent, ready for its funeral. Granted, I couldn't give a funeral yet, Anakin was still inside of him.

I sighed as I placed the last purple flower around Kiojah's body. Even though Kiojah had been a ruthless leader, I had known him his whole life. As a child, he was innocent…mischievous, but nonetheless innocent. He had held such great promise for a new leader. Now, he was dead; and a lot of people – including me – were on the verge of celebration.

I was pulled out of my thoughts as Rayoshi walked into the tent.

"_Yes_, Rayoshi?" I asked him.

"_I need you to go into_ Kiojah's _tent and stay there with the _Jedi. _Make sure he doesn't leave, I'll be there shortly_." Rayoshi instructed.

We both walked out of the tent together and then I noticed everyone getting ready for war. "Rayoshi," I started, making him stop walking to turn towards me. "_What's going on_?"

"Kiojah _came to me in a dream; he told me that the_ Anarani _are preparing for an attack to free the_ Jedi_. I know how to defeat them now. If we ambush them tonight, the_ Mahoozi _will rule the planet_!" Rayoshi told me happily.

I was excited, I will admit that; but, somehow, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. I didn't know what it was, but I couldn't shake the feeling. "_Good fortune to you_, Rayoshi." I told him even though I didn't think the spirits would honor my wish.

He nodded and walked off to talk to Tariliku. "_When the sun is seen, everyone must be hidden in tents and all fires put out_!" Rayoshi yelled to the whole camp. Everyone called back a chorus of yeses.

My gaze traveled to the stars above me before I went off to Kiojah's tent with the sense of dread still covering me.

* * *

><p><strong>(Chief Harleke Ronem)<strong>

I looked at the horizon one more time as I crouched lower in the bushes. The sun was still below the horizon, but the sky was beginning to grow to a rosy red color.

I turned my head to the right and caught Madelha's eye. I nodded and he crept forward to the barrier of the spirits. He rammed his spear into it and me and all the Anarani men watched as it crumbled and Madelha walked onto Mahoozi territory.

The rest of us filed onto Mahoozi grounds, too. I walked to the front with Madelha by my side. We both watched as the wooden cart with extra arrows, bows, and knives rolled in behind the men.

We were close enough to the Mahoozi camp to plant the cart when the sun showed the slightest hint of its edge at the horizon.

"_Leave the cart here_." I ordered. "Madelha, take _seven men and guard this cart with your life_."

Madelha nodded and quietly chose the seven men around him to stay around the cart.

"Tariku," I continued as we all chose weapons. "_You take half of the men and go to the north side of the camp; I'll take the remaining men and attack the south side. We will attack when we get to our positions. When you get to your positions, do the same_."

Tariku nodded and began to move around Mahoozi territory to the north side of the camp.

I grabbed a slender bow and a sheath full of red-feathered arrows and slung it over my back. I also took a dagger and concealed it in a small side-pocket in my black pants.

My men and I then silently moved till we were on the very edge of the Mahoozi camp. It was quiet at the camp. There was only one man in sight. He was guarding a tent - I could only assume it was the tent the Jedi was in. The tent looked like it would be Kiojah's... There were no sounds coming from anywhere in the camp, no wind stirred the tents, no fires were lit – though there were some where hints of smoke still rose from their ashes. It was almost deathly silent...

I silently took an arrow from its sheath and notched it on my bow. I pulled the string back to my chin, aimed for the guard, and let the arrow fly.

* * *

><p><strong>(Tariku Berijin)<strong>

I stopped and looked back at the group of men following me. We were about halfway around the Mahoozi camp when I saw a quick glance of Harleke's head.

I stopped and waved the men ahead to keep going towards the north end. I kept look out for any Mahoozi men as they filed past me.

As the last man went by me, I looked back at Harleke. I could see the bow in his hand and the drawn arrow. I watched as the arrow flew from Harleke's fingers. The arrow was silent, but the reaction was the complete opposite.

I watched in horror as Mahoozi men – _armed _Mahoozi men – jumped out from the tents and a hundred battle cries rang through the dawn air.

They knew. They knew we were coming. If they knew that, then what else did they know?

I snapped back to reality and began to run to my men.

"_They know that we were coming!" _I whispered loudly to my group. "_Run. Go to the north side and attack immediately._"

We all half-stood, half-crouched and ran swiftly through the grass of the village. As soon as we were on the opposite side of the camp as the fighting, we ran into the fray with arrows whizzing past us and metal clashing against metal.

* * *

><p><strong>(Madelha Ronikem)<strong>

My head shot up as the sound of yelling echoed from the Mahoozi camp.

"_Be ready for an attack at any moment."_ I told the men around me.

* * *

><p><strong>LATER<strong>

* * *

><p>At least an hour had passed since the first cry had been heard. Half of the sun was now visible instead only an insignificant sliver.<p>

A few Anarani men had come back to the cart to restock on arrows or get a sharper knife, other than that our job was nonexistent.

It wasn't easy just guarding this cart, though. It was a very important job, but standing here waiting for something to happen while the screams of dying friends rang in our ears was not what any of us wanted to do. Harleke had trusted me with this job because I was his right-hand man. I realized this, but I hated being his right-hand man and not being able to help my dying tribesmen.

Suddenly, from the taller grass behind us, the snap of a twig sounded. The seven other men must have heard it too. I notched an arrow in the bow I held and the rest took out arrows of their own or had daggers or axes ready to throw.

Fifteen Mahoozi men burst out from the grass with weapons raised high or arrows drawn. The second an arrow was sent through the heart of the man next to me, I released my arrow and it flew into the neck of a Mahoozi man.

We began to fight, desperately trying to defend the cart and all the weapons, but our attempts were almost pointless. Four of the eight Anarani men were already dead, whereas only two of the fifteen Mahoozi men were dead.

Soon, I was the last Anarani standing.

"_Surrender._" A Mahoozi man spoke.

I was breathing heavily and bleeding from an arrow that had grazed my leg, but I stood my ground. "_Never_!" I yelled as I launched myself at the men. I successfully killed three more men (leaving only seven), but I was easily overpowered.

A strong blow to my jaw sent me to the ground. A dagger was then thrust into my chest and twisted. My vision blurred and I faintly heard myself scream. I could hardly feel anything but pain coming from my chest, but I did feel a massive wave of heat. The last thing I saw before the spirits took me away was the cart and all the weapons burning and flames reaching up to the dawn sky.

* * *

><p><strong>(Chief Harleke Ronem)<strong>

I burst through the tent flaps of Kiojah's tent expecting to find the Jedi. I did find the Jedi, but I also found the karija and Rayoshi, a man I recognized from every encounter with Kiojah.

I was surprised that I didn't see Kiojah himself.

"Where is Kiojah?" I asked Rayoshi.

"In your camp." Rayoshi responded with cold eyes.

My heart almost stopped. Kiojah. In the Anarani camp. There were only women, children, and the elderly in camp! "What do you mean?" I growled.

"Don't worry, he's dead." Rayoshi said almost light-heartedly.

"How…?" How would Kiojah die in our camp? If he was dead, how would Rayoshi know this?

"The Jedi you have been keeping under your care is not really a Jedi." A sneer was visible in Rayoshi's eyes.

"What do you mean?" I demanded to know.

"Tell him, Jekaisa." Rayoshi ordered the karija.

She stepped forward and hesitantly explained. "There was a spell I put on Kiojah and the Jedi. The body of the Jedi was in your camp, but the spirit of Kiojah was in that body."

"So the Jedi is dead?" I was confused, but also worried for the Jedi. We weren't part of the war, but a Jedi had helped our village many years ago. They were our allies in a way.

"No, the Jedi is alive. Or, at least, as far as I know." Jekaisa continued to explain.

The Jedi kneeling next to Rayoshi looked pained as Jekaisa spoke of his friend.

"What do you want with two Jedi, Rayoshi?" I asked him.

"Bargaining." Rayoshi responded. "If you surrender, I won't kill your people or the Jedi."

"On what terms?" I asked skeptically.

"I become ruler. I rule the planet. Your people will become the slaves of the Mahoozi, and _you_ will be _my_ slave for everyone to see. Until you're publicly executed, that is."

"What of the Jedi?"

"Slaves as well." Rayoshi replied simply with a small shrug. "At least they get to keep their lives along with your people."

If I surrendered, I would be the only other person to lose their life. However, even though they would be able to keep their lives, they wouldn't have much of a life. The Jedi looked mortified at the prospect that a complete stranger held his future and the future of his friend.

I knew what I had to do. I had a duty to my people.

I stared directly at Rayoshi before speaking.

"I surrender."

* * *

><p><strong>BWAHA! Now what will happen for Obiwan and Anakin? And think about all the poor Anarani people! Like Li'ana! <strong>

**Anyways, I realize it's late, but I **_**did**_** get this chapter up over the weekend just like I told some of y'all! **

**REVIEWS ARE BEYOND APPRECIATED! Gracias! (I'm learning Spanish :D )**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11! Sorry it took me a while to update, I've been really busy with my Uncle and school and all that jazz :) Lucky for y'all, this chapter is longer than most of the others (…I think…) so y'all didn't wait for weeks for like three paragraphs :D **

**P.S. To **wolfdragonz, **I hope this lives up to your expectations :]**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS. MR. GEORGE LUCAS DOES. I'M JUST PLAYING WITH HIS TOYS.**

**Exact same as most of the other chapters. Italics = not English**

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

No. No! Harleke _couldn't_ surrender! Did he hear what Rayoshi told him? We would all go into _slavery_ for him!

_Slavery._

The word echoed through my head.

_Slavery._

Anakin couldn't go through slavery again. It would crush him. It had been hard enough on him as a young boy, but now? Now he had already been freed, become a Jedi Knight, and grown up! He was twenty-one years old now, not nine; and that's exactly how he'd be treated. Like a 21-year-old man. No - not man: slave. A 21-year-old _slave_. Who knows what Rayoshi would do to him!

_Slavery._

_Slavery._

_Slavery._

It continues to bounce around inside my skull as I watch in a half-daze as Harleke slowly walks towards Rayoshi.

_Slaver-_

I'm snapped out of my own thoughts as Harleke suddenly charges at Rayoshi. I notice the slight glint of metal in Harleke's hand before it disappears into Rayoshi's abdomen.

"I will never surrender." Harleke whispers harshly into Rayoshi's ear as he twists the dagger and jerks up.

Rayoshi gasps for air before Harleke yanks out the bloody knife and watched as Rayoshi slumps unceremoniously into a heap on the ground. The sound of his last breath echoes off the tent walls and his eyes glaze over, staring forever into oblivion as blood slowly trickles out of the corner of his mouth.

Harleke stood there, unmoving, staring down at Rayoshi's body. I was still in a half-daze as Jekaisa came over and untied my bonds.

"Is it true?" Harleke asked Jekaisa, finally turning away from Rayoshi's corpse. "Everything that you said? Is it all true, Jekaisa?"

Jekaisa nodded. "The young man in your camp is Kiojah, though he is dead. The Jedi who owns that body is currently here, though we need to get to your camp to change their spirits back."

"I have ordered the people in my camp to release the Jedi from his body at sunset tonight." Harleke told us.

"Then it's important that we get to your camp as soon as possible." I interjected. "Can you take us there?"

Harleke looked torn. "I cannot leave my men here in this fight. I am their chief, taking you now would be leaving them to die."

I understood Harleke's predicament. I looked outside the tent to see the sun coming close to being at its highest point, despite the clouds beginning to gather in the sky. It was probably around 1300 hours.*

"We won't ask you to leave your people, Harleke," I spoke. "What if we finish this fight. After that, we go to your village."

"I agree with you." Harleke answered my agreement.

"It's a half-day's journey, Master Kenobi." Jekaisa told me lightly.

"Not if we run." Was all I answered her with.

Harleke nodded. "Agreed." With that, Harleke ran out of the tent, dagger still in hand.

Jekaisa hesitantly walked towards me, hands hidden behind her back. "You might want this." She pulled her hands in front of her and held out a lightsaber…my lightsaber.

I took it and forced a smile on my face. "Thank you." I told her before she nodded and left the tent.

My fake smile immediately dropped and I stared in disgust at the lightsaber I held. I felt like vomiting as it almost taunted me. Voice, images ran through my head. The way the lightsaber had gone through Anakin's heart with the simple touch of a button. The way Anakin's back had arched into the blade in agony and I could see the blue glow from the saber tip underneath Anakin's body.

"_Kill me."_

"_Anakin, you can't ask me to do this."_

"_I can and I am."_

"_You're going to make it off of this planet alive. I promise."_

I had promised him that he would live. I was beginning to doubt my promise. Would I? Would I live up to my promise? Would Anakin live…?

I couldn't let him die. I couldn't. I had already watched my Master die; I would _not_ let my Padawan die, too.

"I should never have taken a Padawan." I whispered to myself. The guilt of killing Anakin was still heavy on my heart.

"Why not?" A deep, masculine voice asked behind me.

My heart squeezed in pain as I turned around to stare into Qui-Gon's eyes. "M-Master?" I choked.

"Close your mouth, Obiwan. You look like Jar-Jar Binks." He told me in his fatherly tone. I felt like a teenager again as I immediately snapped my mouth closed. "Why should you never have taken a Padawan?" Qui-Gon's tone softened as he asked me the question again.

"I…" I swallowed before answering. "I was too young. Anakin should have been given a different master."

"You weren't too young, Obiwan." Qui-Gon stepped closer to me.

"I was 25, Master. I was _barely_ a Knight when I took Anakin."

"You've done well, Obiwan. I've always believed in you."

"_You've_ always believed in me, but that doesn't mean that I can be as good as you think I can be."

"You're right. You're better than I thought you would be." Qui-Gon placed his hands on my shoulders. "I did not know what I expected out of you when I told you to train Anakin, but I know now that I made the right choice. You've done wonderful at teaching Anakin. Ask him, and I'm sure that he'll agree with me."

I felt like breaking down right then and there. "But I can't ask him." I whispered.

"Well, standing here talking to me isn't going to change that." Qui-Gon smiled. "Go and fight. And remember, I'm always proud of you, Obiwan."

Qui-Gon's form then faded, but his presence did not leave. I could still feel him with me as I bowed my head and whispered my thanks to him.

I then looked at my lightsaber, clenched my right hand around the cylinder and left the tent and launched myself into the fray.

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

Pain. Pain was all I knew. I couldn't feel or see anything except sheer agony.

All I could see was black. Never-ending black. The kind of black that makes you feel like you've fallen into a deep, swirling lake and can't find the surface.

All I could hear was silence. Silence and my own echoing thoughts. My own pain-filled, doubting, heavy thoughts.

Thoughts full of what-ifs…

_What if I died? What if Obiwan's promise was full of empty words?_

If I did die…would anyone care? Would the Council care _at all_? Knowing them, they'd probably hide tears of joy and huge smiles when the news reached their ears. And what about Obiwan? Would he even mourn or would he stick with the Jedi Code?

_There is no death, there is the Force._

_There is no emotion, there is peace._

Peace. That was one thing that I've never felt. I've never known that it's like to be in complete peace. What would it be like to not have any worries? For as long as I can remember, I've always had a burden.

Obiwan always says to meditate; to let it all go into the Force. I don't see how he can do it so easily. What Obiwan doesn't realize is that there are some feelings that a person just _can't_ release into the Force.

Heavy burdens, deep scars that never fade, old wounds that time won't ever heal…hidden feelings, even.

As I thought more, the blackness in front of my eyes slowly turned from black to a grey, then to color. Soon, there were pictures. Faces, places, voices…they all were memories. My memories.

The first clear image was a nine-year-old me and my mother standing in the middle of Mos Eisley. My heart tore a little bit at the sight of her. This was long before the Tusken Raiders took her, before she died, before I killed – no, murdered – all the Tusken Raiders.

I watched myself as I ran to my mother and wrapped my short arms lovingly around her. She soon surrounded my with an equally loving embrace.

After a few moments, I walked back over to a large figure… It was Qui-Gon.

Then it hit me: this was the day I left her. This was the day I left Tatooine to go to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple. This was the day I left everything behind to become a Jedi.

Just as Qui-Gon and I began to walk away from my mother's still-kneeling form, my mother's body fell to the ground and the scene around her transformed into the Tusken Raider camp. Bruises and cuts then formed on my mother's body and she became thinner and wearier.

She then looked straight into my eyes and reached out with a bloody hand before speaking. "Help me, Anakin..." Her voice was hoarse and strained with pain.

I wanted to scream for her, to tell her that everything would be alright...but everything _wouldn't _be alright.

She then began to scream in agony and I could only watch. Thankfully, she faded from my vision and soon all I saw was black again, though the sight of her and the sound of her voice was still fresh as if I was still watching.

Despite the constant, intense physical pain, there was now the heartache of remembering the day my mother had died and how it all had started: when I left her on that fateful day. My heart had broken a little bit with every step I had taken away from my mother, from my home…but also away from the burdens of slavery.

Faces now ran through my mind. My mother's, Qui-Gon's, Sebulba's, and Watto's. I remembered Watto with bitterness. Don't get me wrong, Watto was one of the least brutal slave owners I ever had, but he was still a slaver. He would only beat me or my mother if it really came to that. Most owners would beat their slaves every day just for entertainment or out of sheer boredom.

My vision then flashed a bright white before clearing up to yet another scene: Geonosis.

A feeling of dread instantly flooded any other emotion as I recognized the dim, rocky hanger and the figure of Count Dooku standing in the middle of it. I soon recognized two more figures entering the hanger: me and Obiwan.

My Padawan braid still hung on my right shoulder and Obiwan…well; Obiwan still looked pretty much the same.

I watched helplessly as I charged at Count Dooku even as Obiwan yelled at me. As Force lightning was sent into my and I was flung into the hanger wall, I immediately remembered how painful it was. All of my nerves had screamed with the pain of the electricity, and my ribs had bruised from the rock wall being slammed into them.

However, the pain of my ribs and the lightning didn't even hold a match to the pain of watching Obiwan get stabbed twice with Dooku's lightsaber.

The worst part was that I caused it. I caused Obiwan to be alone. I caused the blood-red blade to slice through muscle, skin, and even some bone. I caused all this pain. It wasn't the Separatists that caused it. It wasn't Obiwan's own fault. It even wasn't Dooku that caused it. It was mine. My own fault.

…It was my own fault that I lost my arm…

My vision faded to black before I could see Master Yoda's tiny form come limping into the hanger.

Before I could even figure out what emotion I was feeling, my vision changed yet again.

It was my wedding.

I watched, stunned, as I took Padme's hand with both my hands – even my new mechanical one – and the minister pronounced us man and wife.

My vision froze as we both gazed at the beautiful lake during the sunset.

If I could cry, I would be right now.

Everything weighed down on me at once, like I just crashed head-long into a speeder.

My mother's death: my fault. Obiwan's pain: my fault. The loss of my arm: my fault. The death of so many clones: my fault. The disappointment of the Jedi: my fault. The let-down of everyone's expectations: my fault.

I hate the expectations people have for me. I constantly feel the full extent of all the expectations that have been thrust upon my shoulders from the very the second I became a Padawan. I have _always_ had the expectations of everyone looming over my head. I'm supposedly the Chosen One. I'm supposed to be the perfect, emotionless Jedi. I'm supposed to bring balance to the Force. I'm supposed to be some immortal, indestructible, unbeatable _god_ to everyone. I'm supposed to _always _be at kriffing _peace_.

And of course, I'm _not_ a perfect Jedi, I'm _not _an indestructible machine-of-a-man, I'm _not_ at peace, nor have I ever been.

Sometimes, I want to make it all end. To not feel the burdens of my everyday life. To have absolutely _no_ expectations for myself. To actually feel peace.

I wish I could be at peace and never feel everyday guilt and regret ever again. Never feel burdens. Never feel heartache. Never feel sorrow... Never feel pain.

It would be so easy to just let go of it all...to give in. To fall asleep and never wake up... To be at _peace_...

The frozen image of me and Padme began to dim slightly.

The black of numbness, of peace, seemed to call my name.

I wanted to give in. To let the Force do as it wills and just let me be in never ending peace...

As the picture of my wedding became dimmer and dimmer, the more and more I wanted to give into the darkness. The more I wanted to never feel pain again. The more I wanted to be at peace...

Then the verandah on Naboo turned to complete, silent blackness.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I drove my lightsaber through the chest of another Mahoozi man.

I looked up at the sky and the dark gray clouds that now hid any shade of blue. I couldn't see where the sun was, but I hoped it wasn't midday yet.

"OBIWAN!" A woman's cry ran out amidst all the shouting. I recognized the voice as Jekaisa's and immediately tried to find her.

I found her standing outside her tent with a look of horror on her face.

"What is it?" I asked her urgently when I reached her.

She swallowed before speaking hoarsely. "Kiojah is dead…"

Was she crazy? "Yes, yes, Jekaisa he's dead."

"The curse." Jekaisa whispered.

She really was crazy. "Yes, Jekaisa, there's a curse that the Anarani placed on Kiojah…" I trailed off.

The curse. It was connected to Kiojah. Now that Kiojah was dead, the curse would be broken.

I looked around the camp and already saw some of the affects of the curse lifting.

The men seemed stronger. More Anarani were dying and less Mahoozi. The Mahoozi weren't cursed with loss of battle anymore.

Which meant… that they could win.

"Jekaisa," I told her urgently. "Is there any way you can keep the Mahoozi under the curse?"

She was about to shake her head until she brightened and nodded. "I can try to convince the spirits to not lift the curse until after sundown."

"Try it." I instructed her. "And please, hurry."

She nodded and rushed back inside her tent with a _swoosh_ of the tent flaps.

A second had maybe passed before I was knocked to the ground by a heavy weight on my back. My lightsaber went flying from my hands as whoever was above me dug something sharp into my back.

I threw all of my weight to the side to roll over with the person who quickly climbed on top of me. I stared at a Mahoozi man I recognized as the man who had beaten Anakin. Something snapped and the man held up half of an arrow. The arrowhead was still digging painfully into my back.

He tossed away the arrow and started to throw wild punches at my head. I moved my head to the left and right as his fists pummeled the dirt. As he aimed for another punch, I bucked my hips up in that split second, causing him to fall forward and catch himself on his hands. I trapped his right leg with my own left leg and wrapped my arm around his right arm. It collapsed at the elbow and I rolled over yet again. This time, my forearm was pressed against his neck and he was completely hopeless.

I pressed the bony part of my arm down on his neck as he gasped for air. At that moment, my anger began to bubble up inside of me. This man had beaten Anakin. I had watched every moment of it. Yes, Kiojah had ordered him to; but I had seen the amused gleam in his eyes with my own eyes. I wanted him to pay. To suffer the way Anakin did.

I kept cutting off his air, letting anger course through my veins. I watched as his fear-filled eyes began to glaze over and his breathing was reduced to hardly anything. Before long, his eyes stared into the distance and his lungs no longer drew much-needed oxygen.

I stared at his body, fear now replacing the anger. I wasn't afraid of the fact that I had just killed a man, I was afraid of the fact that I had killed him out of anger. I had allowed the anger to overtake me; I had practically _embraced_ it. _That_ was what scared me.

I just stood there, enveloped in my own world. A world full of only me and the man whose name I didn't even know…

My world evolved into reality as Harleke placed a heavy, bloody hand on my shoulder. I then realized that I was soaking wet with rain. It had started down-pouring by now.

"Obiwan, the Mahoozi are overtaking my men!" He yelled over the constant shouts of the battle around us.

"The curse is being broken!" I shouted back. "Jekaisa is asking the spirits to not lift the curse yet."

"Go see if she's done anything! If she doesn't soon, the Mahoozi could win!"

Harleke then began to fight the Mahoozi again as I turned towards Jekaisa's tent. I grabbed my lightsaber from the mud before gently pulling the tent flap back.

I didn't know how long it had been since she'd begun to ask the spirits for more time.

I walked into her tent, dripping wet, to see her kneeling on the ground in a red-painted circle whispering words in her own language. I didn't want to interrupt her, but the need to speak with her became more urgent with each moment. As if to emphasize my thoughts, the dead body of an Anarani man fell through the tent flap and lay motionless on the dirt ground.

"Master Kenobi," she whispered before turning around with a small grin. "Why are you here? You should be out winning this battle."

I smiled, immediately understanding what she meant, then ran out of the tent to find Harleke.

We would win. I would save Anakin in time. I looked up at the sky, it had to be midday. I didn't care. It wouldn't take long to overrun the Mahoozi and then get to the Anarani camp.

There was a small voice in the back of my head whispering: "what if you don't make it in time?" I shoved the voice away and focused on finding Harleke.

I found him fighting off two Mahoozi men. I ran and tackled one of the men to the ground and ignited my lightsaber against his chest. He fell to the ground as I got up and stood back-to-back with Harleke who was shooting arrows and slashing with knives with a deadly precision.

"Jekaisa did it!" I told him. "The Mahoozi are still cursed! Relay it to your men!"

He nodded before leaving me to tell one of his men who then told another, and another, and another... Soon every Anarani man was fighting with a determination only found in winners, and the Mahoozi began to lose... badly.

* * *

><p><strong>LATER<strong>

* * *

><p>I watched as the last group of tied Mahoozi men were placed in the holding tent.<p>

"Why are they being put there?" I asked Harleke.

"They say they would gladly fight for the Anarani. They claim to never have gone along with Kiojah and his beliefs." Harleke explained. "I don't really trust them."

I thought for a second before speaking up. "I do."

Harleke turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "You do?"

"Jekaisa told me about some Mahoozi people – including herself – who disagreed with Kiojah."

Harleke's eyebrow fell. "I'll have Loriak talk to them later."

I looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. "It's just past midday." I whispered, mainly to myself.

He grabbed an Anarani man by the arm. "Gather the wounded and dead, Peekat." He told the man in Basic. "Once they're all together, bring them to camp."

"What of the prisoners?" Peekat asked.

"Bring them, too." Harleke then turned back to me. "Go get Jekaisa; we leave for our camp immediately."

* * *

><p><strong>(Li'ana Karadel)<strong>

I stared at the horizon as the sun was almost completely set.

I turned back to the body of Rikashi. He looked like he was sleeping, even if everyone knew that he was really dead. He was lying on a funeral pyre made of wood with flowers and herbs scattered across it and around him.

I sighed as I traced the outline of flowers around his body. I may not have known him for long, but he was a good friend – or at least to me. I wish he hadn't died.

I looked back at the horizon to see only a small sliver of sun left. The air was humid from the rain earlier. Though the rain itself had stopped, clouds were still lingering over our heads.

"Li'ana," Jarina placed her worn hand on my shoulder. "_It's time,_ _harioku_."

I smiled as she used her nickname for me: harioku. It meant 'young spirit.' I turned around and she handed me a lit torch.

She placed both her hands on my shoulders as I looked around at the gathered village. Only the men weren't here, but everyone else was. Their heads were all bowed, hands clasped together as they waited for the funeral for the great Jedi to begin.

I placed the torch on the wooden pyre for Rikashi and watched as the flames erupted and began to engulf Rikashi.

I stepped back just as a piercing cry ran through the air.

"NO!"

Everyone looked up to see Harleke and two other people – a man and a woman – running up to the pyre. The man leaped on Rikashi's funeral pyre, into the flames, and pushed his body off the wood and out of the fire.

"Harleke…?" Jarina asked him behind me.

"_I'll explain later_." He interjected. "_Right now, we need to help him_."

"_But he's dead_!" I blurted out.

"_I'll explain later, child_." Harleke kneeled down to my level as the man and woman carried Rikashi's body into Jarina's tent.

Harleke then began to walk to Jarina's tent with them. Jarina then followed him and they began to speak to each other in hushed voices.

I took a step forward to follow them when my friend, Niro, grabbed my arm.

"_Let go of me, _Niro!" I told him. "_I have to help _Rikashi."

"_Let _Jarina_ and _Harleke_ handle this, _Li'ana. _This isn't something normal. This has to do with something beyond you or _Rikashi_. I don't want to see you getting hurt…" _Niro begged me.

I yanked my arm out of his grasp. "_I'm sorry_, Niro,_ but I can't stand here while they're busy in there._" I pointed to Jarina's tent. "_I need to be in there._"

I began to march, determined, into Jarina's tent.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I watched as Jekaisa started the spell she had done days before. She had just finished creating a figure eight in black chalk around Kiojah and Anakin's slumped over bodies. She then took the chalk and created a black dot on each man's forehead and over their heart.

I faintly heard the tent flap open and close and someone new walk in to stand slightly behind me, but I wasn't paying any attention.

Jekaisa placed two fingers in a bowl of blue paint and placed them on Kiojah's forehead and placed her two non-blue fingers on Anakin's forehead. After a few moments, she switched foreheads so that her arms were now crossed. She looked up to the ceiling of the tent and her eyes were glowing now, just as they had done the first time she had done this.

She then placed both her painted and non-painted fingers on the meeting point of the figure eight. I watched as small black flames erupted and burned around the figure eight.

"Herix ajji kolia nemerew jaxen zeminoth!" Jekaisa spoke.

I shielded my eyes as a bright flash lit up the tent for a few seconds before vanishing and Jekaisa looked up at me.

I immediately rushed to Anakin's side, ready to see his blue eyes and hear his voice in _his own_ body. But I didn't see his eyes or hear his voice… My heart practically stopped at what I saw.

Anakin's body _wasn't _moving.

_At all._

* * *

><p><strong>*For military time, it's pretty much just a 24-hour clock. So 1300 hours would be 10:30.<strong>

**TADA! Chapter 11 for ya! Is Anakin dead or alive? BUM BUM BUM. **

**So this was like 4,919 words so this is longer than any chapter I've done! I'm so proud of myself! **

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED AND HELP ME UPDATE FASTER :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey! It's been a while :/ I'm really sorry about that! I had SO much going on, including helping my uncle, practicing/performing a play, finishing all my school before spring break, and other events! I didn't even keep up with fanfiction for like a week or two. SO again, I'm really sorry!**

**Chapter 12! Thank you SOSOSO much for all the reviews! I don't think y'all really realize how much it means to have even one review in their inbox :D**

**Also: thank you to everyone who pointed out my mistake ':] 1300 hours is not 10:30, but is 1:00. I trusted Google…it lies. LIFE LESSON: don't ever trust Google.**

**Same as like half the chapters: italic = not English.**

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM.**

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

Anakin wasn't moving. He wasn't even _breathing_.

"Master Kenobi…" Jekaisa whispered hoarsely. "I'm…I'm so sorry."

"No, no." I put my head on Anakin's bruised chest. "No, no, nononono. This can't be happening."

Harleke patted my shoulder before leaving the tent with a young girl.

"Please don't be dead." I murmured to Anakin. "You can't die on me, now. Not after everything we've been through. Yes, you're annoying at times. Yes, you know exactly how to get under my skin. I _know_ that you hate all of my lectures and constant nagging. Trust me, I _realize_ that, but I do it all because I love you, Anakin. Yes, attachment is forbidden and yes, you're not actually related to me in blood but…you're like my son. My _brother_. You can't leave me, you just _can't_! You've always been by my side, ready to help if I need it; and now that you need my help I've failed. I've failed _you,_ Anakin and I'm so, _so_ sorry! This is all my fault! I could have done more to help you but I _didn't_! Then I killed you! I did! Not Kiojah, not Rayoshi, not a droid's gunshot, or even a Separatist! It was _me_... And…you just can't die, Anakin… Please…" I trailed off as emotion overwhelmed me and I listened to my own shaky breathing.

"You're getting soft, old man." A hoarse voice whispered.

I jerked my head up to see two blue eyes staring at me.

"Anakin?" I asked, stunned.

"Yeah." He said with a smile and a chuckle. "Who else would I be?" He asked jokingly.

"It's…it's been a long mission, Anakin." I answered wearily.

"Well it's not over yet, Master Kenobi." Jekaisa stepped into my realm of vision. "Let's get you fixed up, shall we?" Jekaisa asked Anakin.

Anakin nodded and I whispered my thanks before leaving the tent.

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

It had been a day since Jekaisa had gotten my spirit back into my own body. I was still too weak to stand, and even sitting up was painful, but I liked it better than lying down all day.

Jekaisa said that I had developed a fever and most of my wounds had become infected. I was always burning up, despite Jekaisa keeping a cold scrap of cloth on my forehead most of the time. She had healed practically all of my minor wounds, but the more major injuries still hurt like hell, though they were better than when I had first woken up.

Despite my healing, Obiwan had gotten over being a mushy mess, though I will admit that it felt good to hear him say those things about me.

You see, Obiwan's one of those people that will keep _everything _bottled up inside – though most Jedi do – but he'll even keep praise withheld. An approving nod of his head is enough to make my heart soar, but to hear him pour out his heart over my seemingly-dead body was beyond anything I ever could have expected.

The best part of it was that Obiwan thought of me as his brother. And the best part of that is that he's my brother, too.

Then I realized it: Obiwan had formed an attachment.

I know that I've formed attachments; nothing's new there, but Obiwan? He had _actually_ formed an attachment, and _admitted_ to it, too!

I smiled as I thought about how Mace Windu's disappointed glare would look if he found out. Then I sighed and grimaced, realizing that to the Jedi Council, Obiwan and I were dead. I could almost see the headlines on the HoloNews:

_**KENOBI AND SKYWALKER MIA; JEDI COUNCIL DEEMED THEM DEAD.**_

I closed my eyes shut tight as I thought about how everyone would be affected by our 'death.' Mace was probably celebrating. The rest of the Council would grieve for maybe a day, then pretend like nothing ever happened, or that we'd even existed. Padme would be devastated… Dear Padme. I missed her so much. I wished I could run to her and hug her, telling her that everything was alright. That _I_ was alright.

But I couldn't. Instead, I was stuck in this Force forsaken tent with absolutely nothing to do except attempt to sleep through my fever.

I was pulled out of my own thoughts when the tent flap opened and Jekaisa walked in.

"Are you feeling any better?" She asked cheerily.

"A little." I whispered. My voice was still hoarse and I could barely speak at a normal volume.

"Well, a little is better than none, right?" Now she sounded like Master Yoda.

I was about to agree when I noticed a brown-haired head watching us from a cracked open tent crack.

"You don't have to hide, y'know." I said as loud as my voice would let me.

Soon a body emerged with the head and Jekaisa turned around. "Li'ana, koli lare tosid zerich." Jekaisa spoke in her own tongue.

"Jole liroo vidichet. Kareeje Rikashi, harkloo." The girl replied.

Jekaisa looked at her for a few moments before murmuring something that I couldn't quite hear. She then turned to me. "This is Li'ana. She stayed with Kiojah most of the time when your body was here."

"And since he wasn't actually you, I want to get to know you!" Li'ana smiled and then bounced over to me before plopping down right next to me. "So what's your actual name? You're not really Rikashi, right?"

I shook my head and smiled. "My name is Anakin."

"Anakin?" I nodded. "I like it better than Rikashi, anyways! My name is Li'ana." She held out her hand to me.

I took it gently in my larger one and shook it as Jekaisa came over to me and began to look over my wounds.

I hissed in pain as Jekaisa prodded one of the large gashes on my back from the whipping.

"Does it hurt?" Li'ana asked innocently.

I looked at her with amusement and asked sarcastically, "What do you think?"

She just shrugged before starting another conversation all about me and my life as a Jedi.

* * *

><p><strong>LATER<strong>

* * *

><p>Li'ana had asked question after question for around an hour before she left. Now that Li'ana was gone, Jekaisa began the painful process of slowly healing the lashes on my back.<p>

Jekaisa brought over her bowl full of a purple pulp before kneeling down behind me. I was now situated so that I could help hold my upper body in a sitting position by holding onto the pole I had been resting against earlier. Jekaisa placed one hand on my left shoulder, keeping her fingers from touching any wounds.

I watched with tense muscles as she dipped the fingers of her right hand in the bowl. I braced myself even more before she touched my back.

The pulp was supposed to help quicken the healing process of my whipping lashes. She had held off on doing this because she said my body was too weak to take the pain of the pulp. Jekaisa had used the pulp to heal some of my minor cuts, but all I had felt was slight stinging.

I had thought she was being ridiculous about using it this time… I was wrong.

The pain was excruciation, making each nerve the pulp touched scream. I groaned, leaning more on the pole. The pulp penetrated and invaded every wound. It slowly - agonizingly so - healed the gashes bit by bit.

As the process continued, all I could do was scream whenever the pulp touched my back.

Soon, I had lost my grip on the pole and was beginning to lose my grip on consciousness. All of my support rested on Jekaisa's hand on my shoulder. My vision was beginning to get foggy and dimmer.

"Stay with me, Master Skywalker." Jekaisa whispered encouragingly in my ear.

I swallowed before nodding.

Again, Jekaisa placed the pulp on my back and again, I screamed.

I wished this would end soon; my body couldn't take much more of it.

"There's only a little bit left." Jekaisa murmured. "Stay awake, ok?"

I nodded again before my throat was burning with my screams again.

* * *

><p><strong>(Jekaisa Jaharia)<strong>

I was scared that the Jedi would fall unconscious, but we had to finish the bowl of pulp. The healing powers of the pulp would only work if every piece of pulp was used.

Anakin screamed again and slowly put even more weight on my hand. I almost wish that Li'ana would come back in to hold him up for me.

I felt Anakin's muscles start to relax under my hand.

"Stay awake." I told him gently.

I felt sorry for him. I didn't know him as well as I knew Obiwan, but watching a beat up, feverish, torn up, exhausted, sweating young man scream from going through even more pain was enough to make anyone's heart break. Especially mine.

I finally placed the last glob of pulp on Anakin's back and told him that it was over.

He said nothing, but simply collapsing in my arms. I held him carefully, making sure that none of the pulp rubbed off his back and onto me.

"_Is it over_?" a young girl's voice asked.

"_Yes_, Li'ana." I said to where the voice had come from. "_Will you come over here and hold him up for me_?"

Li'ana immediately bounded over to me and Anakin.

"_Sit down and put your arm around his shoulders to keep him up. Make sure to not touch any of the pulp_." I instructed.

She did as I asked and I stood up to check Anakin's vital signs.

He was still breathing heavily and his eyes were squeezed shut. If he was aware of reality, he didn't show it. Sweat soaked his burning forehead and bare chest. His heartbeat was still racing from the previous healing.

"_Will he be alright_, Jekaisa?" Li'ana asked.

"_Yes. With rest and healing_." Despite my words, I wasn't sure. His fever hadn't broken and he was in constant pain, even after the healings.

I watched silently as his head rolled backwards to rest on Li'ana's shoulder.

"Anakin?" Li'ana asked quietly.

No response. Unconsciousness had claimed him.

We sat in silence for a while before Li'ana spoke.

"_Are you sure he'll be alright_?" Her green eyes seemed to search me for the true answer.

"_I...I don't know_, Li'ana." I admitted. "_But that stays between you and me. These two_ Jedi _have been through so much. I would hate to worry them further_."

Li'ana looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking to Anakin's unconscious form.

"Anakin? I don't know if you can hear me or not, but you have to get better soon. You see, I spent all my time with Rikashi thinking that he was actually you. But you have to get better so that I can know you and when you leave, I'll remember you and notRikashi."

Li'ana then told him about her life.

"I can't wait till Madelha gets back from the Mahoozi camp. I want you to meet him because he's the closest thing I have to a father."

My heart froze. No one but me, Harleke, and Obiwan have returned from the Mahoozi camp yet. I tried to remember if I had seen a man named Madelha. I began to fear that he was dead and would leave this young girl behind.

"Li'ana..." I began to tell her to not hope for Madelha's return, but stopped myself. "_Will...will you unwrap his bandage_?"

Li'ana nodded and began to carefully unwrap the bandage around Anakin's abdomen. Once it was off, I could clearly see the angry knife wound that Rayoshi had last given him.

I gently pressed some of the red skin back to see inside the wound better. Anakin moaned slightly and his muscles began to stiffen as pain began to pull him back into consciousness.

"It's ok." Li'ana whispered in Anakin's ear in Basic as she pushed some of his sweaty hair out of his face.

I carefully prodded the wound again and Anakin groaned and shifted in Li'ana's arms. I didn't want to put Anakin through any more pain today, so I stopped and re-wrapped his abdomen in a new bandage.

After I finished wrapping the bandage, Anakin relaxed and stayed limply in Li'ana's arms.

"_Will you keep him like that for a while_, Li'ana?" I asked the young girl.

Li'ana nodded. "_I'll stay here as long as you need_."

I left then to find Maser Kenobi.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I sat with Harleke, Jarina (the Anarani's karija), and another Anarani man named Koroku. For the past few hours, we were trying to figure out how Anakin and I could get back to Coruscant.

"Could the spirits alert the Jedi Council?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, Master Jedi, but even the spirits' powers have a limit." Jarina answered.

We were beginning to run out of ideas.

"Is there still a way to communicate inside your ship?" Harleke asked me.

"I don't know. It exploded after Anakin and I got out. I doubt anything is still working." I replied.

"It might be worth a try to go look." Harleke pointed out. "Even if there is nothing, there's no harm in at least looking."

"If there was a way to communicate there, would it even work?" Koroku pointed out.

"If something is found, it very well might need to be fixed." Jarina said.

"Anakin…" I whispered to myself before speaking to everyone else again. "Anakin is good with mechanical equipment. If we find anything, Anakin could try to get it to work again."

As soon as we all agreed to go scout out the ship – or at least the remains of the ship – Jekaisa walked into the tent.

"Jekaisa," Harleke spoke. "You and Jarina will keep control over the camp for a while."

Jekaisa looked thoroughly confused. "Where are you going?"

"To search the crash site for anyway for Anakin and I to get back to the Jedi Temple." I answered for Harleke.

Jekaisa nodded. She said something to Harleke in their own tongue before leaving the tent with Jarina.

"Koroku," Harleke spoke. "Gather five men to come with us to the ship. When you have them, we'll leave."

* * *

><p><strong>(Jekaisa Jaharia)<strong>

Harleke, Obiwan, Koroku, had just left along with Tariku, Qinse, Zedde, Darsen, and Irashi. Jarina and I were now sitting in Anakin's tent, grinding up spices to make into a tea for Anakin as he slept on the other side of the tent.

"_Do you think the men will find anything at the crash site to help _Obiwan _and_ Anakin_ get back to _Coruscant?" I asked Jarina.

"_I don't know what they will find._" Jarina answered. "_Master _Kenobi_ said that the ship had exploded after they had gotten off. That must have been the loud sound we had heard one day, though we didn't know what it was. If we could hear it here, surely the ship isn't even there anymore. I don't think anything could have been left after that."_

Despite not wanting to agree with Jarina's thoughts, I did. The explosion had caused Kiojah to send men to find out what it was. Kiojah had thought it was some sort of evil demon sent by the spirits to kill us. Rayoshi had said himself that there wasn't much left of the ship except for smoke, ash, and burning metal.

"_Even they do find something they're relying on him-_" Jarina pointed at Anakin. "_-to make it work. He can hardly do anything right now."_

Undoubtedly, Anakin had gotten stronger, but he was still easily exhausted. And who could blame him? He'd been to hell and back in the past week or so.

Just as I was about to answer, we heard the sound of footsteps, shouting, and laughter coming from outside. I looked at Jarina questioningly and she just shrugged. Almost immediately after, an Anarani man stuck his head inside the tent flap.

"_The men are back from the _Mahoozi _camp!" _He said excitedly.

Jarina stood up and ran out as soon as she heard the news.

"What did he say?" A hoarse voice asked.

I looked over at Anakin to see that he was awake.

"He said that the men are back from the Mahoozi camp." I told him.

He nodded. "You can go see them. I won't die if you leave for a little while." He said smugly.

I smiled and turned to leave when a piercing scream rang through the air.

* * *

><p><strong>We're almost to the end of the story, y'all! It's so sad…but good…but sad…hmm.<strong>

**Anyways! I hope you like chapter 12! I'll try to get chapter 13 up much faster than this update was ':]**

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13! I will tell you, this is the next to last chapter. It's so bittersweet! **

**Thank you SO much for all the reviews, favs, and alerts that I've gotten over the course of this story so far! I hope this chapter and the last will live up to y'all's expectations :)**

**Same as last chapters: italics = not English.**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING.**

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><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

Jekaisa stopped dead in her tracks as we heard the scream ring throughout the Anarani camp.

"What is it?" I asked Jekaisa.

She looked out of the tent and raised a worn hand to her mouth. "Li'ana..." She whispered.

"Help me up." I told Jekaisa.

She looked at me like I was crazy, and I may have been, but I needed to get up. She came over and – after a few painful moments – got me on my feet. I immediately regretted the decision as my vision swam and felt nauseous with dizziness. Despite it, Jekaisa helped me limp to the tent opening.

I held a hand up to my eyes to get used to the bright sunlight, but then put it down at the sight in front of me.

As a Jedi, I had always dealt with death. Whether it was me killing or watching other die, I had known death for most of my life. Though all of that experience never prepares you for seeing wagons full of wounded and dead men slowly roll into a camp full of innocent people. Immediately, I saw where the scream had come from: Li'ana. She was being held back as she screamed for a man named Madelha. She had told me about him, he was pretty much her father. The young man holding her back with tears in his own eyes finally let go and Li'ana sprinted to a wagon.

She started to cry as she held onto a man's limp hand and sob into his chest. I assumed he was Madelha, and to me: he looked dead.

My heart went out to Li'ana. After all, I had lost my mother only two years ago. Now, at her young age, she had lost both of her actual parents and now Madelha.

As the wagons continued to be pulled into the camp and to Jarina's tent, more women and children began to cry over dead bodies or pray over nearly dead ones. Others watched in shock as the nine wagons finally came to a stop outside Jarina's tent.

She quickly came out and began to sift through the wagons, finding the men who were still alive and dragging them inside her tent to do what she could.

"I should help her." Jekaisa whispered next to me. I nodded and she helped me back over to the pole I was leaning on.

"I'll be back." She told me before going off to help Jarina with the dead and wounded.

After a few moments, Li'ana came into the tent. "Is Jekaisa here?" She asked in a small voice.

I shook my head. "She's helping Jarina if you need her."

Li'ana stared at the ground before careening into my chest, wrapping her short arms around me in a tight hug. It hurt like hell, but I didn't care. She began to cry into my chest, and I carefully wound my arms around her body, encasing her in them.

We sat there for a while, Li'ana just crying into me while I stroked her hair and let her let it all out.

"Why did the spirits take him?" Li'ana asked me quietly when she stopped crying.

"No one really knows why people die, but there's always a reason. He died honorably, though, by fighting to keep you, me, and the rest of your tribe safe."

"But…why him? Why did he have to leave me?" Li'ana asked. The last question was one I had asked myself frequently about my own dead loved ones, but now this young girl was asking me.

"He hasn't left you." I whispered to her after a short pause.

Li'ana looked up at me with big, green eyes. "What do you mean? He's…he's…" Li'ana broke off as another choked sob took over her voice.

"I know," I hugged her tightly again, ignoring the flaring pain in my back and side. "But he'll never really leave you. Just because he isn't standing next to you doesn't mean he's not here. He'll always be with you, right here." I pointed at Li'ana's heart.

"Really?" She asked me in child-like wonder.

"Always." I told her. "He will always be in your heart, never forget that."

She hugged me again. "Thank you, Anakin." She whispered.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I stopped in my tracks as soon as I saw the crash site. I hadn't expected much, but this was beyond what I thought I would see.

Part of the ground was actually still burning. Even though we all stood at least 20 yards away from the actual explosion, the ground beneath our feet was still blackened with ash-covered grass…or at least what was left from the grass. Random chunks of metal were scattered across the blackened area. There were still some large parts of the ship that were still strewn around, but nothing more than that.

"How will we find _anything_ here?" Tariku asked next to me.

"By looking." Qinse said cheekily next to Koroku.

I glanced over at Harleke and he shrugged. Then, we started to search.

We sifted through melting metal and sparking wires that were lying on the ground.

I rolled over one large circular chunk of partly-melted metal and jumped back as sparks erupted from it.

"Be careful!" I warned the men. "Some of the debris could still explode."

We continued to search for a while when a rumble was heard. I looked around to see if something had exploded, but nothing had.

That's when I noticed the dark clouds rolling across the sky.

"The curse is broken." Harleke pointed out behind me. "Now it can rain here…and it hasn't rained for years."

A bolt of lightning came shooting down from the clouds to pierce the ground below. As soon as the following clap of thunder was heard, a downpour began.

It blinded me and all I could hear was the pounding rain and a few shouts from the Anarani men.

"Get underneath the ruble!" I yelled loud enough to be heard. I ignited my lightsaber and the rain started to sizzle on it. With the light, it was easier to see a large part of the hull lying not too far from us.

We all ran over to it and huddled underneath the metal cave. The blue glow from my lightsaber illuminated the metal dome, allowing us to see clearly.

"It's raining really hard, now." Darsen murmured to himself as he looked outside at the downpour.

"The rain will damage any electrical thing that may possibly still be working." I muttered to myself.

Harleke must have heard me. "We'll have to go back when the rain ends."

"Who knows when it will end." Irashi pointed out.

Everyone was silent after that, just listening to the sound of the rain and their own internal thoughts.

After a few minutes, Qinse started climbing over ruble to the back of our metal shelter.

"Qinse…?" Darsen asked quietly.

Qinse just held up one finger. "Turn off your light." He told me.

I raised an eyebrow but did as he said and deactivated my lightsaber.

"Did you turn it off?" Qinse asked me after I did.

"Yes." I answered with a questioning tone.

Qinse turned around, smiling. "There's something glowing over here." He then bent over and held up a piece of metal with a faintly glowing circle on it.

"That's a comlink." I whispered.

Qinse came back over to us and handed it to me. I tried to use it to contact the Council, but something was wrong with it. It was working, I knew that from the way it still glowed, but the power was too low or some wires had been destroyed. I looked at the side to see that that part was broken and partially melted.

"It doesn't work right now." I told everyone. "But try to find something else if you can, we might be able to get it to work."

All six men nodded in agreement and began searching the small area for anything else that would be of possible use.

After a few minutes, the rain seemed to be getting harder. I heard someone trip slightly and looked over to see Zedde holding Tariku's arm to keep him from falling.

"Be careful! It's slick in here." Harleke called out.

We continued searching for a few moments when I heard a faint hissing sound. I sniffed the air to smell the acrid scent of gas. Something had burst, and gas was leaking.

I glanced over at a sparking wire that was only one of many glowing wires.

"Everyone, get out _now_!" I called to the other six men under the hull of the ship. "There's a gas leak, and if it touches one of these wires, this whole place is going to blow!"

Qinse and Irashi glanced at each other before sprinting out into the rain to safety outside of the blackened circle on the ground. Then we ran quickly after them. As soon as we reached the edge, Koroku was looking behind us.

"Where's Zedde?" He asked.

I did a quick head count. Five men were besides me. Zedde must have been the one missing.

Darsen started to run to the wreckage where we were just at, but Tariku held him back.

"You can't go! It will explode!" Tariku told him as he kept his arms firmly wrapped around him.

As if it was on cue, the deafening sound of an explosion sounded through the damp air. We all fell to the ground as the shockwave knocked everyone off their feet.

The heat was burning at my face, but I kept my arms covering them until the ruble had settled around us. When we thought it was safe, we all stood up to see the burning wreckage. _Nothing_ was left now.

"Zedde!" Tariku yelled as he ran over to a smoking heap.

He grabbed it heap and turned it over…it was a body. It was Zedde.

"Zedde?" Tariku asked.

I heard a few short words whispered and then Tariku folded Zedde's hands over his chest.

Tariku walked back over to us and held out a charred cylinder of metal to me. "Zedde said that you needed this."

I took the metal cylinder and recognized it. It was a power cell. _This could power the comlink._

"Thank you." I told Tariku.

He nodded with tears in his eyes.

"Let's go back to camp." Koroku said solemnly.

We traveled all the way back to the Anarani camp in silence.

* * *

><p><strong>(Li'ana Karadel)<strong>

I sat next to Anakin in the tent, trying to teach him our language. He was feeling a lot better than he was earlier today; the pulp that Jekaisa had put on his back was helping, though he was still fighting his fever.

"You-zee-mah." I pronounced slowly for him. He was currently trying to say 'friend,' or yuzimah in my language.

"You-chee-may." He tried.

I laughed and shook my head. "No. You-zee-mah."

"You-see-mai."

I pushed his cheeks together. "You-zee-mah." I repeated.

"You-zee-mah." He mumbled through squished lips.

"Yes!" I let go of his cheeks. "Say it again."

"You-zee-mah."

"Faster."

"_Yuzimah_." He said it correctly at a normal speed.

"Perfect!" I told him. "So, _jihma katte yuzimah." _I told him.

"Which means, 'you are my friend.'" He replied in Basic, smiling.

I nodded and hugged him as Obiwan, Harleke, and Jekaisa walked into the tent.

"Did you find anything?" I asked.

Jekaisa looked at me funny. "How did you know that they were even going out?"

"Oh…uh…" I realized my mistake. "I…I kind of _overheard_ you talking about it."

"So you overheard us from _inside_ Harleke's tent?" Jekaisa crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged and looked over to see Anakin biting his lip too keep from smiling.

"Anyway, we did find some things that may be useful." Obiwan said. He walked over and placed a wrapped up cloth in Anakin's hands.

Anakin unwrapped the cloth the reveal a couple shiny cylinders and sparking strings.

"What are those?" I asked.

"This is a comlink-" Anakin held up a thin, oval piece of metal. "Well…a broken one. These are wires," he held up the sparking strings. "And this is a power cell." He held up the bulkiest tube.

"Do you think you can make them work?" Obiwan asked Anakin.

"Maybe." Anakin broke the end of the comlink off to reveal more wires. He took one of the wires and wrapped part of it around one of the wires in the comlink. After it was secured, he tapped the end of the power cell to the wires and a few sparks flew from the place they met.

After a few minutes, Anakin put the power cell down and blew gently on the frying wires. "If this doesn't work, there may not be much else can do." He told us.

Obiwan nodded and Anakin pressed the circular button on the side opposite the wires on the comlink.

Then, a faint blue light began to glow from it.

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><p><strong>BABOOM! So here's chapter 13 and chapter 14 will be the last chapter unless I decide to make an epilogue… Anyways I hope y'all liked it!<strong>

**On a side note: HOLY CRAP I SAW THE HUNGER GAMES LAST SATURDAY! I've loved the books for so long and the movie actually lived up to the books. I was so scared that I actually almost cried when I saw the first trailer because 1) I know how all the books end and 2) I was scared that they were going to completely ruin it like Percy Jackson or Inkheart. **

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED! **


	14. Chapter 14

**This is it! The last chapter! It's bittersweet, but I hope y'all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! This chapter is semi-short, but I hope it's still a satisfying end for y'all!**

**THANK YOU SO MUCH to EVERYONE who reviewed, faved, or alerted my story! It means so much to me :)**

**SO without further adieu, chapter 14!**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING**

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I stared at the comlink as it began to glow, indicating that it was ready for use.

We could contact the Temple! We could get off this Force-forsaken planet!

Just as Anakin and I glanced at each other with relieved grins on our faces, the blue button flickered and went out again.

My heart sank as Anakin removed the extra wire from the power cell and comlink wires. He stared at it for a few painstakingly slow moments before putting the bundle of wires on the ground.

"The wires are too frayed to hold an electrical connection." He explained. "We need something stronger to make it work long enough to contact the Temple."

I closed my eyes and tried to think of a solution when Anakin whispered something inaudible to anyone but himself. I opened my eyes to see him fingering the gold plating of his mechanical hand.

I knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Anakin, you don't have to-" I started but he interrupted me.

"Unless you have any ideas, this is the only way."

"What if this isn't the only way and we just haven't figured out another solution yet?" I asked, pleading for him to not go through with his plan.

"Obiwan, you and I both know that the wires in my arm would be strong enough to hold a connection." He told me, voicing the thoughts that I had tried to ignore.

They would be strong enough, they'd be more than strong enough… But he and I both knew that all the wires in his arm were directly attached to the remaining flesh.

"What if there are still wires that would be helpful at the crash site?" I tried hopefully.

"You know there wouldn't be anything there." Anakin shot back. "You yourself said that everything was destroyed in that second explosion. Besides, the trip there would take too long and for what? Finding charred scraps and ashes?" He was right, but I didn't want to admit it.

"Anakin, it won't be easy to just replace those wires." I pointed out solemnly. I remembered how painful his first arm surgery had been. The wires were connected to nerves, and ripping out just one would be incredibly painful for him. Then the Healers would have to get his prosthetic arm off and attach a completely new one. If he followed through with this, the next surgery he was asking for would almost be worse than the first.

"I know." Anakin replied.

"Anakin…" I whispered, still disagreeing with his plan.

Anakin didn't say anything in response, but the look of pure determination in his already pain-clouded eyes made me give up my argument and simply nod my head.

He took a deep breath as he pried off a piece of the outer plating and gently fingered one of the strands of wires inside the metal weavings. He swallowed hard before grabbing the bundle of wires in his fist and yanked.

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

Extreme pain shot up my arm as the wires were torn away from my flesh, muscle, and nerves.

I screamed as I pulled the rest of the wire strands out from the intricate metal design and clenched my teeth, trying to ignore the burning in my arm. The sudden wave of pain made me light-headed, and the fever flared as I began to sway.

Jekaisa knelt down next to me and placed a hand on my back and chest, helping me steady myself. I finally relaxed after a couple minutes and the pain in my arm became only a dull ache.

I handed Obiwan the comlink and told him to hold it up since my right arm was practically useless now.

After a couple of tries, I somehow managed to twist the wires from my arm in with the ones from the comlink.

"Hold these right here." I instructed Jekaisa. She carefully grabbed the wires and didn't move them as I took the power cell and gently held it against the open end of the wires.

The blue button from the comlink blinked on and off for a few breathless seconds before it began to glow a steady blue color.

"Is that good?" Li'ana asked quietly from Harleke's side.

I smiled at her. "Yes, Li'ana, it's a _very_ good thing."

"Will you come hold this?" Obiwan asked her.

She bounced over to Obiwan and carefully took the comlink out of his hands and kept it in contact with the wires Jekaisa was holding.

Obiwan then pressed the button on the comlink and all we heard was static before Mace Windu's voice came over the connection. "Mace." He answered.

"Thank the Force." Obiwan breathed.

"Obiwan? Is that you?" Mace asked. He must have heard Obiwan's quiet gratitude.

"Yes, Master Windu." Obiwan replied with a smile plastered to his face.

"Where are you? The Council thought you were dead."

"Anakin and I crashed." Obiwan explained simply. "The ship is in ruins and we have no knowledge of our location."

"Did you find any natives?" Mace asked.

"Yes, they've…they've taken care of us." Obiwan looked over at me and then at Jekaisa with a grin.

"Is the boy dead?" Of course he would ask if I was dead opposed to alive. This is why I hated him. I glared at the comlink as I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything myself.

"Anakin is alive, but needs medical attention." Obiwan explained.

Mace was silent for a moment before the voice of Master Luminara Unduli was audible. "Keep this connection open, Master Kenobi." Master Luminara told him. "We'll come to your location as soon as we can."

"Yes, Masters." Obiwan responded before silence took over the comlink again.

I closed my eyes and let my mind run free. The Jedi would find us, and we would be saved.

* * *

><p><strong>TWO DAYS LATER<strong>

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><p><strong>(Jekaisa Jaharia)<strong>

Anakin's fever was still present and his back was becoming raw and infected again, despite the pulp that I kept almost constantly on his back. Because of it, he was almost constantly in pain or asleep, but he was still alive and I planned to keep him that way until the Jedi arrived.

After Master Kenobi had finished talking to the Jedi Temple, we had carefully placed the wires, comlink, and power cell on the ground and left it alone, that way the connection would work without us having to hold it.

I didn't know how far away the Jedi Temple was from our village, but it must have been a long way away since two sunrises had already passed since the connection.

Anakin stirred behind me, and I gently put another cool cloth over his forehead, trying to break his fever.

"Is it feeling any better?" I asked Anakin. I wasn't quite sure what 'it' was, but it let everything come into the question. And even though I meant every part of him, he shook his head slightly.

I removed the cloth and felt his burning forehead as his blue eyes cracked open and glanced at the comlink on the other side of the tent.

"The power cell is dying." He whispered as he breathed in slow, uneven breaths.

I looked over to the comlink to see that the blue light was dimmer than it had been.

"What happens if the power cell dies?" I asked him, fearful of the answer, but needing to know.

Anakin shook his head. "I don't know."

I nodded as I helped him lean forward so I could look at the hardening purple pulp on his back. With each slow, shallow breath, the marred skin on his back would pull at odd angles, making the pulp crack and reveal the infected lashes below. I wiped some fresh blood off his side and gently patted part of the pulp back down on the knife wound that Rayoshi had given him.

Sadly, my stock of pulp mixture was running low. All of my and Jarina's supplies was running dangerously low. Since the curse on the Mahoozi had been broken, rain had been coming down in bursts. It would be dry for a day then rain steadily for the next. The rain had killed most of the herbs Jarina and I used as karijas. Many of the herbs we used were grown in poor, dry soil, not water-deluged, mineral swamped soil. And with Anakin's state of being and all the dead or nearly dead Anarani men, Jarina and I had used more substances, mixtures, and spells in the past few days than we had in years.

I hadn't said anything about it to anyone, but I was beginning to wonder if I should. Soon, Jarina and I would be completely drained of all medicine except for spells that only required our voices and the aid of the spirits…I was hoping that that day wouldn't come, but I wasn't sure.

I noticed for the first time that Anakin was watching me quietly.

"Your supplies is running low." He stated without taking his eyes off me.

I nodded. "The rain is drowning everything on this planet."

Anakin's eyes flickered to the small crack in the tent flap and then back to me. "I'm sure the rain will stop sometime soon. After going for fifteen years without rain, the Mahoozi part of the planet is definitely going to be flooded, but this side of the planet should be fine after a few days."

I smiled, but I wasn't sure if he was right.

"You should believe him, Jekaisa." Harleke said as he and Obiwan walked into the tent.

Since the men had arrived back from the Mahoozi camp, Harleke had been named the head chief of all people on the planet, even the remaining Mahoozi men. They had eagerly agreed to become Anarani men, finally free from Kiojah's reign. Jarina had agreed to let me be the second karija of the Anarani, and Li'ana had asked to become my apprentice. Despite being so young, she had never shied away from Anakin's vicious wounds, and she had cared for him so well. After Jarina and I became partners, Li'ana asked me if she could learn from me. I agreed almost instantly.

In fairytales, this would be the end and everyone would live happily for the rest of their problem-free lives. Sadly, reality strikes back. Reality makes you remember the countless lives that were lost to get to this point. Reality forces you to look back at all the pain and fear Kiojah had caused. Reality makes you recall that the Jedi hadn't saved Anakin or Obiwan yet, and it made you realize that Anakin's condition wasn't a simple thing. Reality is a cruel thing, but it's how life is. Life isn't simple; it's hard, problematic, and sometimes painful.

But sometimes, life has its wonderful moments.

"Mariokku spotted something in the sky; you might want to come look at it." Harleke told us.

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I didn't want to get hopeful, but what else could it be? I looked up at the black speck in the sky again.

"We can go home now." Obiwan whispered next to me. He looked over at me and smiled as he repositioned my arm around his shoulders.

I smiled back while I still tried to shake off the slight dizziness. We would be going home. Back to the Temple, back to Padme, back to my life.

I looked around and noticed that most of the Anarani people were out of the tents, staring up at the incoming ship along with me, Harleke, Obiwan, and Jekaisa.

As the ship drew closer, I heard Li'ana come up next to me. I glanced down at her to see her green eyes staring at it in awe.

I lifted an arm up to my face as the ship landed and blew dirt up into the air. The landing ramp came down and Master Unduli and Master Windu walked down it, medics following closely behind. As soon as they spotted us, they walked over.

"Welcome, Master Jedi." Harleke told them and they both bowed slightly to him.

Li'ana tugged on my pant leg as Harleke, Jekaisa, Obiwan, Mace and Luminara began to talk. I knelt down next to her with some difficulty.

"Are you leaving to go the Jedi Temple now?" Li'ana asked me.

I nodded. "I am."

I could see the sadness in her young eyes as she reached into a small bag around her waist and pulled out the wires from my arm. She held them out to me and I noticed that she had braided the wires and put beads in various points around the brass-colored strips. "Here, this way you won't forget about me."

I smiled at her as I took the braided wires from her small hands. "Thank you, Li'ana, but I won't_ ever_ forget about you." I told her honestly.

Li'ana's eyes became less sad and replaced it with a look of care as she spoke again. "I won't ever forget about you either. I'm glad I got to meet you instead of Rikashi. I like you a lot better."

I laughed slightly as medical clones came over and helped me sit down on the medical capsule in front of them.

"We'll be leaving soon, General." One clone told me.

I nodded as I placed the braided wires down next to me.

"Anakin," Li'ana started, "_jihma katte yuzimah._" Li'ana said, making me remember my 'language lesson' from a few days ago as she flung herself at me and hugged me tightly. I enveloped her smaller body in my own as I felt a couple wet tears trickle onto my chest.

I drew back and looked Li'ana straight in the eyes as I held her shoulders. "_Jihma katte yuzimah._" I told her back, pronouncing it perfectly.

Li'ana smiled back as Harleke placed a hand on her back.

"The Jedi will always be welcome here." He told me as I glanced at Obiwan, Luminara, and Mace. "If we can ever be of help to the Republic, we'll be here."

"Thank you." I whispered back as the clones began to walk my stretcher off to the ship.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I sat with Anakin in the Medbay of the ship hours later.

He was lying on a bed, finally done with his initial exam. The clones told us that we would need to get to the Jedi Temple for proper treatment, but they would do all they could for now.

"Mace said it would take two days to get back to the Temple." I told Anakin. "He also said that they already had a room ready for you."

Anakin laughed lightly. "The same one?" There was one room in the back of the Medbay – away from any doors for escape – that Anakin had practically always been in when he was there. I asked Luminara once if it was on purpose and she just laughed before going to help another injured Jedi.

"Probably." I replied.

Anakin sighed and closed his eyes and we sat there for a few more minutes, listening to the sound of the random monitors in the room.

"It's finally over, isn't it?" Anakin asked me quietly.

The mission itself was over, yes, but there was still a long way to go. Getting back to the Temple, Anakin's surgery, healing, and recovery were far from over. We would have to build up our strength again, finally get more than three hours of sleep, and return to a normal routine of basic life…but for now, that didn't matter. Anakin was safe and we were heading home.

"Yes, Anakin," I responded. "It's over."

* * *

><p><strong>So there you have it! It's over! Now I'm sad. Anyway, I hope y'all like it and once again: thank you for all the reviews, favs, and alerts! <strong>

**AND if y'all are interested, check out my other stories! **

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED AND THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS STORY SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE!**


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